The article provides a rational evaluation of Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. It assesses her achievements, controversies and mistakes she made as to the United Kingdom Prime Minister. The article also looks at her individualistic style of leadership and a divided society she created.
This article brings out the strong moral character, which is attributed on how she was raised. She came from a humble background and her parents owned two grocery shops. Her family was also strict on religion and stressed on personal faith, holiness and moral responsibility which has been observed in the life of Thatcher (Stepney, 2013). This information is important in understanding how Thatcher came out with as a politician with strong values despite the criticism she faced. It also approves my assertions on her character in the PA assignment.
Her policies especially on free market seemed to have been influenced by the philosopher and economist Friedrich von Hayek following her participation at the Institute for Economic Affairs in London. Her interest in Hayek’s texts that were concerned with classical liberal analysis, and commitment to individualism informed most of her policies which somehow were successful (Stepney, 2013). As a PM borrowed a lot from von Hayek’s and Milton Friedman in control inflation in the economy through strong monetarist policy. Her strong sense of political conviction was as a result of many decisions she made where some were polarizing and unpopular with her opponents. The significance of this information is that it provides a basis for my argument on her confidence in whichever path she felt was right to follow.
One of the findings from this article was her strong values shaped by her religious faith and texts from Friedrich von Hayek. She shattered political glass ceiling becoming one of the powerful women in her time (Stepney, 2013). She was also mindful of people’s liberty and human dignity. She institutionalized policies and processes that democratized the market in an effort to restore UK’s economy that was in a crisis. However, her sense of being iron-willed made her commit mistakes such as tax cuts which culminated to her resignation.
The application of her leadership style can even be used in the business industry and be able to bear fruits. The late Steve Jobs proved that sometimes being autocratic can make the company grow when he was the CEO of Apple Inc. I believe there are attributes that can be copied from her political life and be replicated to other spheres of life.