non interference from the government. This meant that they believed people should be left to sort out their own problems. There was an attempt by Joseph Chamberlin to introduce Tariff Reforms in 1903, money from this would be used to help the poor but this was very unpopular and was part of the reason for the failure of the Conservative Party to win the 1906 election. In 1894 the universal franchise was introduced, allowing all men to vote, unless they were in prison, or a lunatic asylum. The new voters had different
28/12/11 Social Reforms Essay To what extent were the Liberal Social Reforms of 1906-1914 in response to the Booth and Rowntree reports? Although there were social changes before hand, between 1906 and 1914, the Liberals launched into one of the biggest social reforms in British political history. Before this, the government’s attitudes to the welfare of its people in the nineteenth century is a phrase called ‘Laissez-fare’ meaning, quite simply, the government didn’t believe it was their duty to interfere with the lives of the people and that the individuals should be responsible for the state of their own lives. However, the findings of The Booth and Rowntree reports were one of the few significant moving factors of the government abandoning of Laissez-fare with shockingly realistic statistics. There were also other key factors such as the ideas of new liberalism, national efficiency, political pragmatism and national security to be taken into consideration of why the government changed its policy.
The Liberals knew they had to find a way of keeping the working class votes. Reform could therefore be seen as a rather selfish, politically advantageous response to political change. Changing attitudes within the party, summed up as New Liberalism were influential in promoting change and the example of Municipal socialism encouraged Liberal politicians towards national reforms is also holds water as a very influential factor. Many Historians still believe that the reforms were introduced due to genuine concern over the poor after Rowntree and Booth’s discoveries. Their discoveries were startling and unsuspected.
Liberals are probably the strongest advocates of democracy. Democracy solves a problem described by an old adage: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." When power or wealth concentrates too heavily in too few hands in society, democracy is useful for dispersing much of that power back to the people. In other words, when enough voters become discontented with the status quo, they vote to change it. Of course, those already in power bitterly resent this; that is why there is such a strong anti-democratic streak in wealthy conservatives and business owners.
Asses the reasons for the emergence of the Liberal Party by 1868 There were numerous different factors which contributed to the emergence of the Liberal party but all these reasons can be split into three main factors. The emergence of the Liberals in Parliament; Popular Liberalism and finally the weakness of their opponents. These factors ultimately lead to the amalgamation of separate parties such as the Whigs and the Radicals into one party that conveyed all their views and was revolutionary to the way that British politics were viewed, the Liberal Party. Opposition to the Liberal party was very limited in that there was only one other party to clash with, the Conservative party. Despite the fact that Britain had been a Conservative government before Liberal, the Conservative party was decidedly weak and provided barely any opposition to the Liberals.
How far was the economic slump in Germany responsible for the remarkable rise in support for the Nazi party in the years 1928-32? Germany’s economic slump was a major factor in the Nazi’s good fortunes; however it was by no means the only factor which contributed to their rise in support. Linked with the poor economic climate, the political situation was in a dire condition, with no party apparently able to find a solution to Germany’ problems. A societal shift away from support for democracy also enhanced the NSDAP’s support as they seemed to offer a new hope to the public. The elite undermined Weimar as a result of their traditional values and hatred of democracy.
How did society's attitude change towards the poor from 1830-1914? How did the Government deal with poverty during this period? Before the 1830's people who were subject to poverty were looked upon as lazy and deserving of their situation. People of this time thought the main three causes of poverty was idealness, drunkenness and thriftiness. Factors that contributed to changes from this were help from social investigators like Booth and Rowntree, artistic contributions from Dickens and Dore and a realisation that the Boer's war impaired Britain’s national efficiency.
This was because the government had problems with their policies and mandates, also because voters believed that John Howard had been Prime Minister for too long. The Labour Party also used negative campaigning by labeling Howard as a ‘clever politician,’ implying that he cannot be trusted. Rudd also represented new leadership and a change for the voters, he was also very careful to avoid policy controversies. In the 2007 Federal election, the whole year became a ‘phoney campaign’ meaning that the Labour government maintained a strong polling lead over the incumbent government. When John Howard called the election on 24th November which was the almost last possible date, the incumbent government was trailing 6-8% in the polls, Howard set a longer than average campaign of 39 days in hope of making up lost ground in the campaign
How far were the reports on poverty by Booth and Rowntree responsible for the Liberal Social Reforms 1906-1914?In the periods of 1906-1914 there was a series of reforms introduced by the liberal party. They were mainly introduced to tackle social issues in British society. What was responsible for the Liberal Social Reforms is often debated. Some claim that Booth and Rowntrees reports were the most influential factors in the introduction of Liberal Social Reforms as the reports were the first major indicators of poverty in Britain through the evaluation of poverty in York and London. However, other factors should not be discounted as many factors led to Liberal Social Reforms introduction.
Looking Backward In Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy argues that monopolies running the American economy was one of the most significant problems in 1887. It was Bellamy’s belief that small independent businesses would not have the ability to succeed due in part to corporate monopolies running them out of business, or just buying them out. He gave an example of the railroads being slowly brought up until,“a few great syndicates controlled every rail in the land.” Bellamy’s opinion was that the monopolies were able to take advantage of their customers and small business owners because they had too much control of the markets. (34-38) Edward Bellamy criticizes the American government system because of the corruption present behind their curtains.