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I am not so sure that the shift to the neoliberal (economcally-far right) occurred because Thatcher, Reagan came to power, more that these two came to power because of this shift, which Paul says was already underway in the mid to late 1970s. Had Thatcher never been born, someone would have done what her regime did, probably. I remember a quote, suppoosedly said by Harold Wilson's Chancellor in the 60s, (......perhaps someone on crit geog can reference this properly, please), when H W was going to undertake some left-populist measures that meant taxing the wealthy and companies more. The Chancellor warned H W "If you do this, the MNCs will leave the UK straight away, unemp will shoot up, the IMF will be down on you like a ton of bricks, Parliament will have a Vote of No Confidence, and the Conservatives will get in". The point is, the MNCs largely run the world economic circus, cery much now that many are bigger than many states in terms of corporate production vs national GDP, but they did meven in the 60s. This was/is called Globalisation, it made people feel good as it gave them cheap goods, plentifully (alright a bit shoddy, very standardised, very boring, but so what....) - people saw lots of goodies dangled in front of them if they went along with the econ- supremacist policies that Thatcher & Co offered. These politicians merely saw the moment, caught the surf as it were, in an already powerful and gathering wave. Much as it would ne interesting to go back in a time machine and ensure Thatcher and Reagan grew up, say as a tea lady and a dustman. I fear on returning to the present, not a lot would have changed. > "Since the mid-to-late 1970's, the major western countries have undergone an > economic, political, and social sea-change. Put simply, the shift to 'free > market economics', the dismantling of social welfare programmes, and the > institutionalisation of new forms of individual and group identification have > together undone the post-war social-democratic consensus." > A sea-change, like the weather, like an earthquake. An unavoidable "shift" to > free market economics. But Castree, and everyone else, knows this is nonsense. > The policies in the West changed because Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan > were elected. They were elected democratically, by majorities who fully > understood their policies. > Paul Treanor > >> > Hillary Shaw, P/G Geography, University of Leeds