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UWEC CERCA 2025
Friday April 25, 2025 2:10pm - 3:10pm CDT
This project aims to discover whether there were any trends in the politics of five subject countries—the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—during elections that took place after periods of economic dislocation that challenged dominant economic orthodoxies at the time, the two periods being the Great Depression and the “Stagflation Crisis”. This trend would be a change in ideology, not just in terms of political party. To complete this study, I conducted a large review of literature not only about certain elections, but about the individuals those elections elevated, and the proper way of studying shifts in politics during economic events. I also read literature related to certain key terms that would help me in my studies, like those of ideology (modern liberalism, neoliberalism) and of political history (the history of all major parties in studied countries). After conducting this research, I found that following the Great Depression, there was only a slight shift to the left across the five countries, as while the United States and New Zealand elected strong “modern liberal” governments, Australia and the United Kingdom did not (although the United Kingdom did join the leftward shift in the Depression-focused 1945 election), and Canada was restrained from doing so by a leader who only took limited steps towards modern liberalism. In the case of the Stagflation Crisis, there was a more definitive shift to the right, as the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand all elected neoliberal governments following the crisis. Australia and Canada, meanwhile, ended up with modern liberal governments, although ones that were beginning to embrace some tenets of neoliberalism as well. However, governments were less stable during this crisis, and government shifts came late, after less reactionary alternatives had been attempted, a hesitancy not found in the post-Depression electoral period.
Presenters
MH

Michael Hansen

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Faculty Mentor
DK

Damir Kovacevic

Political Science, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Friday April 25, 2025 2:10pm - 3:10pm CDT
Davies Center: Menominee Room (320F) 77 Roosevelt Ave, Eau Claire, WI 54701, USA

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