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Tracing the Past in the Present: Defining and Operationalising the Concept of Political Legacy

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Exploring Political Legacies

Abstract

The concept of the political legacy, despite its importance for institutionalist and historically minded political analysts more generally, remains both elusive and undeveloped theoretically. This chapter seeks to address that oversight by exploring the various ways in which political scientists have approached the legacy of Thatcherism and by building on existing studies of other politicians and their ideologies and policies. We aim to offer a clear definition and operationalisation of the term which might be used to inform future research. Legacies we view as traces of the past in the present; the claim to the existence of a legacy is both a causal and a counter-factual claim. We propose, in the light of this, a multi-dimensional approach to gauging political legacies, reflecting on some of the theoretical, analytical and methodological concerns which need to be addressed in establishing credible claims to their existence.

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

—Pericles

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Notes

  1. 1.

    An immediate effect may be better described as an impact, of course.

  2. 2.

    ‘The Wets’: those in the Conservative Party who opposed Thatcher’s monetarist policies and cuts to public spending, and who were often supporters of her predecessor Ted Heath.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Stephen Farrall

  2. Department of Politics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Colin Hay

  3. Department of Criminology, University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Emily Gray

Authors
  1. Stephen Farrall
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  2. Colin Hay
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  3. Emily Gray
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Correspondence to Stephen Farrall .

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Farrall, S., Hay, C., Gray, E. (2020). Tracing the Past in the Present: Defining and Operationalising the Concept of Political Legacy. In: Exploring Political Legacies. Building a Sustainable Political Economy: SPERI Research & Policy. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37006-0_1

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