ABSTRACT
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were transformative leaders who helped to reshape their countries’ economies, and who contributed greatly to the introduction of a new model of capitalism across the world. Reagan and Thatcher ushered in a new economic and political age and, according to their supporters, won the Cold War. Thatcher and Reagan rejected the social liberalism and permissive society of the 1960s, favouring the social conservatism of earlier eras. When the end of Thatcher’s rule came, her resignation was not a consequence of the decade-long campaigns from the assortment of anti-Thatcher groups. Reagan’s economic policy undermined the entrepreneur and small businesses as globalisation maximised profits for multinational corporations and big business. Reagan was not as successful as his right-wing supporters would have liked, and conservatives regretted the fact that he did not make more of this opportunity to significantly weaken America’s welfare system.
