Abstract
This paper traces the developments in politics, economy, society, and foreign policy in the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2013, and makes special analyses on major events in the frist few years of the Coalition Government, such as China-UK relations, European policy, adjustments in defence policy, constitutional reforms, debates on Scottish independence referendum, and London Olympic Games. A special attention has been given to the impact on the UK of the global financial crisis and Eurozone crisis. The book also focuses on the power shift in the international system and its impact on the evolving British power, its status and role in the world, as well as new characteristics and trends that has emerged in the China-UK relations.
At this phase, the UK economy is characterised by long-term recession and a slow recovery. The UK economy has long been excessively dependent on finance and real estate industry, while the development of the real economy relatively lagged behind and the manufacturing industry experienced a continuous decline. Such a development model is difficult to sustain and transform. Furthermore, the international economic environment and the high level of deficit of the United Kingdom exacerbate the difficulty of such a transformation in British economic structure.
Against the aforementioned context, the first post-war Coalition Government was formed by the 2010 general election. Notwithstanding the incongruity of domestic and foreign policies between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, the Coalition Government, in order to tackle the difficult financial situation, has adopted a harsh shock-therapy-styled austerity programme, which gives priority to reduction in deficit and government debt and to prevention of systematic macroeconomic and financial risk. For about three years, the austerity policy on one hand facilitates the stability of macro-economy and sustainable development in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, it undermines the traditional notion of British Welfare State and aggravates the gaps between different social classes.
Since the global financial crisis, the major parties in the United Kingdom continue to take the middle grould in terms of the ideas and policies of British political and economic governance, in an attempt to gain support from all social groups. David Cameron presents the concept of the “Big Society”, which has become a key policy notion in 2010 Conservative general election manifesto and in the following Coalition Government. Since the 2010 general election, Ed Miliband, who favours a more traditional ideology of the Labour Party, is elected as party leader. He argues that the Labour Party should go beyond the legacy of “New Labour” and be concerned more about the interests of the lower classes. Since 2012 the Labour Party proposed to dedicate itself to the idea of “One Nation Party”. Against the wish of a number of analysts, three years after the 2010 general election the radical reform in British politics which was expected together with the rise of the “third force” did not occur. The concentration on deficit reduction of both parties in the Coalition Government, along with the discrepancies of ideas and the constraints on the efficiency of policy-making have all hampered substantial changes in British politics. The pace of British constitutional reforms tends to be much more moderate and incremental compared with that in the New Labour era. The development of Scottish nationalism and the initiation of the Scottish independence referendum also bring forth the debates over whether the Labour government’s constitutional reform on devolution encourages nationalism and will finally lead to the disintegration of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (Wang Zhanpeng).pdf
