the government or the civil service. The British parliamentarylobby, for
example, is thought to have expanded tenfold during the years of Margaret
Thatcher’s prime ministership (1979–90), with similar developments both in
European capitals and in Brussels, the latter to lobby theEuropean Union’s
authorities. Much sociological research has been conducted since the 1980s
into a phenomenon usually called ‘New Social Movements’, more wide-
spread and participatory forms of group politics which are sometimes seen as
threatening the legitimacy of orthodox parties.
Internal Colonialism
Internal colonialism is a concept with quite a long history, having been used as
early as the late 19th century in reference to Russia. However, like many social
science ideas it has notably changed its meaning over time. Originally it was a
pre-Marxist way of describing economic relations between affluent urban and
impoverished rural sectors. It then came to refer to persistent economic
inequalities between the central or core parts of a state and its peripheral
regions. Since the 1960s, this latter meaning has been tightened so as to make
the idea of such disparities, if they satisfy certain conditions, much more like a
colonial relationship between a rich mother country and its colonies. The
change in meaning came about when it was realized that quite often under-
developed peripheral regions differ from a country’s heartland in more than
simply aggregate wealth. There are essentially two types of differences that
mark out internal colonialism from straightforward geographical inequality of
economic conditions.
First is the nature of the economy of the poor regions. Just as colonies tend
to develop mainly export-orientated and often basic extractive industries, so
do some undeveloped regions. Just as colonies tend not to be able to develop
the economic underpinnings for a broad-based investment economy but
specialize in serving the economic needs of the exploiting country, so too
do some regions of otherwise rich nations. Secondly, the cultural and ethnic
differences between colonies and their governing state is often mirrored inside
a country that practises internal colonialism. There may well be differences in
educational attainment and style of education, but these are also apparent in
other markers of ethnic differentiation like language and religion. In general,
the social status of the inhabitants of the poorer regions marks them out as
different from those of the rich core. All these factors together may indeed
induce a further similarity, which is that just as real colonies develop inde-
pendence movements, internal colonies often adopt the politics of autonomy,
demand, and indeed occasionally attempt to gain, independence.
It is thought by proponents of the idea that the concept of internal
colonialism applies quite widely in modern, developed economies. The
Internal Colonialism