Thatcher: the great transformer

　　Margaret Thatcher was Britain’s most important peacetime prime minister since the late 19th century. She transformed British politics by overturning the ruling assumptions about the relationship between the state and the market.

　　瑪格麗特•撒切爾(Margaret Thatcher)是英國自19世紀(jì)末期以來在和平時期最重要的首相。她推翻了有關(guān)政府與市場之間關(guān)系的基本假設(shè)，從而轉(zhuǎn)變英國政治版圖。

　　She also was a towering figure on the global stage. Her close ideological connection with Ronald Reagan helped give her a role in the world unlikely ever again to be occupied by a British politician.

　　她在全球舞臺上也是一個大人物。她與羅納德•里根(Ronald Reagan)在意識形態(tài)上志同道合，這使她在世界事務(wù)中扮演重大角色，她以后的英國政界人士不再可能扮演這種角色。

　　True believers view her as a Saint Joan of free markets, dedicated to rolling back the state in all its dimensions. In reality, however, she was a pragmatic politician who showed little interest in embarking on politically suicidal attempts to demolish pillars of the welfare state.

　　真正的信徒把她視為自由市場的“圣女貞德”，致力于全方位縮減政府職能。但在現(xiàn)實中，她是一個務(wù)實的政界人士，無意做出“政治自殺”的企圖，比如拆毀福利制度的支柱。

　　Yet, hers was a transformational premiership. Her legacies include liberalization of exchange controls and labor markets, a cut in top income tax rates, transformation of the legal position of trade unions and defeat of militant organized labor, privatization of most nationalized industries and the liberalization of finance.

　　然而，她在擔(dān)任首相期間推動了重大轉(zhuǎn)變。她的政治遺產(chǎn)包括：放開外匯管制和勞動力市場;削減最高所得稅率;轉(zhuǎn)變工會的法律地位，挫敗以好斗分子為中堅力量的勞工組織;對國有化產(chǎn)業(yè)的大部分實行私有化;以及為金融業(yè)松綁。

　　In macroeconomic policy, her governments started with monetarism and ended with a dispute over the role of exchange rates in monetary policy. But the rejection of Keynesian fiscal policy and the shift to relying on monetary policy, in its place, were cemented under her.

　　在宏觀經(jīng)濟政策方面，她執(zhí)掌的政府最初奉行貨幣主義，最終卻圍繞匯率在貨幣政策中的角色發(fā)生糾紛。但是，摒棄凱恩斯主義財政政策，轉(zhuǎn)向依靠貨幣政策，是在她的任期內(nèi)得到確立的。

　　She played a large role in Europe, as well, contributing to launching the single market program. This she saw as an attempt to export liberal economics. But she became anxious about the dirigiste consequences and was staunchly opposed to the single currency. Her speech in 1988 when she said “We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them reimposed at a European level”, was a turning point for her and her party.

　　她在歐洲也扮演了一個大角色，為發(fā)起單一市場計劃做出貢獻(xiàn)。她將此視為輸出經(jīng)濟自由主義的嘗試。但她對干預(yù)式的后果感到焦慮，并堅定反對單一貨幣。她在1988年的一次演講中表示，“我們在英國成功地收縮政府的觸角，絕不是為了看到它們在歐洲層面恢復(fù)原形，”此言對她和她所在的英國保守黨而言是一個轉(zhuǎn)折點。

　　On the world stage, her influence rested on her outspoken defense of free markets and her close bond to the US. On privatization, she persuaded many that even countries with socialist legacies could roll back state ownership. Much of the world followed this example. So how to assess her legacy?

　　在世界舞臺上，她的影響力源自她立場鮮明地捍衛(wèi)自由市場，以及她與美國之間的緊密紐帶。在私有化問題上，她讓許多人相信，即便是帶有遺留的社會主義成份的國家，也可以縮減公有制。全球很多國家走上了私有化道路。那么，如何評估她的政治遺產(chǎn)呢?

　　For the UK, the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s marked the first sustained period when GDP per head rose more than in the other large European economies, since the 19th century. Unfortunately, the post-crisis economic malaise, the high inequality, the persistent regional imbalances and the over-reliance on an unstable financial sector mar this success.

　　就英國而言，上世紀(jì)80、90年代和本世紀(jì)最初10年，是自19世紀(jì)以來人均國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)增速首次持續(xù)超過歐洲其它大型經(jīng)濟體的時期。不幸的是，全球金融危機后的經(jīng)濟困境、嚴(yán)重的不平等、頑固的地區(qū)失衡，以及過度依賴不穩(wěn)定的金融業(yè)，給這一成功蒙上了陰影。

　　Nevertheless, even though she was – and is – an intensely divisive figure, UK politics remain in her thrall. Her worries about the obstacles to a single European currency for such different countries have proved prescient.

　　然而，即使撒切爾曾是(而且仍是)一個導(dǎo)致觀點兩極分化的人物，英國政治仍深受她的影響。事實證明，她對如此迥異的國家采用歐洲單一貨幣的擔(dān)心是有先見之明的。

　　Globally, the end of Thatcher’s period in office coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union, a triumph for the rollback of socialism she proclaimed. After the Tiananmen protests, China’s reform seemed aborted. Yet if one asks which leader did most to transform the world by a shift to markets the answer would be Deng Xiaoping, not Reagan or Thatcher.

　　全球而言，撒切爾卸任時，適逢蘇聯(lián)解體，后者對她宣告的逼退社會主義是一個勝利。在中國，天安門廣場抗議后，改革似乎被放棄了。然而，如果有人問，哪一個領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人在通過引入市場機制轉(zhuǎn)變世界方面做得最多，那么答案將是鄧小平，不是里根，也不是撒切爾。

　　She was a political giant, albeit within a declining nation. She stood for a revival of free markets and a declining role of the state. Today, however, it is not the west, but emerging economies, that are the flag-bearers of relatively free markets. This was far from her doing. But she could well have regarded this as a great success.

　　她是一個政治巨人，可她置身于一個走下坡路的國家。她代表自由市場的復(fù)興和政府角色的縮減。然而，當(dāng)今推崇相對自由的市場的是新興經(jīng)濟體，而不是西方。這不是她的作為，但她完全有理由視其為一項重大成功。

　　Her appreciation would have surely been marred by disappointment over the state of her own country. History has not been kind to confidence in a durable British economic resurgence. Today, alas, the post-Thatcher renaissance looks as much illusion as reality.

　　她在欣賞新興經(jīng)濟體表現(xiàn)的同時，必定也會對英國本身的狀況感到失望。從歷史上看，英國經(jīng)濟復(fù)興大多不能持久。今天，英國在后撒切爾時代的復(fù)興與其說像是現(xiàn)實，不如說更像幻覺。