THATCHERISM IN FOREIGN POLICY

The fundamental policy of Margaret Thatcher was to have a small government for domestic policymaking, or reduce the role of the government in the economy and a have large government for foreign policies. She was of the opinion that the government should be very involved in all foreign policy issues.

Relations with the US and role during the Cold War
Thatcher took a strong Atlanticist stance and formed a close association with the American president Ronald Reagan, continuing the trend of the special relationship that the Conservative Party prime ministers had always maintained with the US. Thatcher and Reagan were close friends and allies and had great respect for each other. And this arose from the fact that they both had a similar economic philosophy influenced by the Austrian and the Chicago Schools.

While she believed that Britain needed the help of US, but at the same time, she also knew that she should maintain good relations with the Russians and the Soviet. Thatcher played an important role during the Cold War by becoming closely aligned with the Cold War policies of Ronald Reagan. Thatcher firmly believed that the Cold War could be won and that the Soviet could not last forever. She was the quicker than Reagan to notice and was the first Western leader to pronounce that significant changes to come in the USSR after Mikhail Gorbachev came into power. She also kept pressure on Ronald Reagan to moderate the behaviour of the US towards