Nanny state
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Nanny state is a term of
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
origin that conveys a view that a government or its policies are overprotective or interfering unduly with personal choice. The term likens such a government to the role that a
nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...
has in
child rearing Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biol ...
. An early use of the term comes from
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
British Member of Parliament Iain Macleod who referred to "what I like to call the nanny state" in the 3 December 1965 edition of ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
''. The term was popularised by journalists
Bernard Levin Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...
and
Auberon Waugh Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downsid ...
and later by Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
.


Uses of term


Australia

The term has been used to describe the policies of both federal and state governments. Canadian journalist and magazine publisher
Tyler Brûlé Jayson Tyler Brûlé (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian journalist, entrepreneur, and magazine publisher. He is the editorial director of '' Monocle''. Early years Jayson Tyler Brûlé is the only child of Canadian football player Paul Brul ...
argued that Australian cities were becoming over-sanitised and the country was on the verge of becoming the world's dumbest nation. This was blamed on the removal of personal responsibility and the increase in the number and scope of health and safety laws. Liberal Democrats senator
David Leyonhjelm David Ean Leyonhjelm ( "lion-helm"; born 1 April 1952) is an Australian former politician. He was a Senator for New South Wales, representing the Liberal Democratic Party from 2014 to 2019. Having been elected at the 2013 federal election, he ...
also used the term when launching an Australian Senate enquiry into laws and regulations that restrict personal choice "for the individual's own good". The term has also been used to criticise mandatory bicycle helmet laws, gun control laws, prohibitions on alcohol in public places, plain packaging for cigarettes and pub/club lockout laws.


New Zealand

The term was used by the New Zealand National Party to describe the policies of their political opponents, the
Fifth Labour Government The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim Anderton, leader of the Alliance Party. While undertaking ...
, who were in power from 1999 until 2008. In turn, the child policies of the National Party's
Paula Bennett Paula Lee Bennett (born 9 April 1969) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 18th deputy prime minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017. She served as the deputy leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2020 ...
were later given the 'nanny state' label by a
Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
Community Law Service manager in 2012. In 2017, the Queenstown Lakes District Council's proposed restrictions on residents renting their rooms on the short term rental site,
Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...
, prompted criticism by the company, which described the move as "nanny-state".


Singapore

The
city state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
of
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
has a reputation as a nanny state, owing to the considerable number of government regulations and restrictions on its citizens' lives. Former
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...
, the architect of the modern Singapore, observed: "If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one". In an interview in the ''
Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...
'' in 1987, Lee said:
I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters–who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.


United Kingdom

In 1980,
Lord Balfour of Inchrye Harold Harington Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Inchrye, (1 November 1897 – 21 September 1988), was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and a flying ace of the First World War. As Under-Secretary of State for Air in 1944 he ...
strongly opposed the introduction of seatbelt legislation, saying it was "yet another state narrowing of individual freedom and individual responsibility". He worried that future intrusions of the "nanny state" would include restrictions on cigarettes, alcohol, and mandatory life jackets. In 2004, King's Fund, a
think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
, conducted a survey of more than 1,000 people and found that most favoured policies that combatted behaviour such as eating a poor diet and public smokingthis was reported by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as the public favouring a nanny state. The British Labour Party politician
Margaret Hodge Dame Margaret Eve Hodge, Lady Hodge, (née Oppenheimer, formerly Watson; born 8 September 1944) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barking since 1994. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as ...
has defended policies she acknowledged had been labelled as "nanny state", saying at a speech to the
Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 and is an independent registered charity. IPPR has offices in Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Funding comes from ...
on November 26, 2004 that "some may call it the nanny state but I call it a force for good". The "Soft Drinks Industry Levy", the UK's
sugary drink tax A sugary drink tax, soda tax, or sweetened beverage tax (SBT) is a tax or surcharge (food-related fiscal policy) designed to reduce consumption of sweetened beverages. Drinks covered under a soda tax often include carbonated soft drinks, spor ...
proposed in 2016 and effective from 2018, was described by Member of Parliament
Will Quince William James Quince (born 27 December 1982) is a British politician and former lawyer serving as Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected at the 2015 general electio ...
as "patronizing, regressive and the nanny state at its worst".


United States

By the 2000s, the term entered use in the United States by some political commentators. The term was used in an at-large sense against the legislative tendencies of liberal political ideology such as in the banishment of smoking in public places or the enactment of mandatory bicycle helmet laws. In 2012, a proposal by
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
Mayor Michael Bloomberg to restrict the sale of soft drinks in venues, restaurants, and sidewalk carts to 16 ounces led to the occasional derision of the mayor as "Nanny Bloomberg." David Harsanyi has also used the term to describe
food labeling regulations The packaging and labeling of food is subject to regulation in most regions/jurisdictions, both to prevent false advertising and to promote food safety. Regulations by type Multi-faceted * Codex Alimentarius (international voluntary stan ...
, the
legal drinking age The legal drinking age is the minimum age at which a person can legally consume alcoholic beverages. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different from the age when it can be purchased in some countries. These laws vary between ...
, and
socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...
government policies. Conversely,
Dean Baker Dean Baker (born July 13, 1958) is an American macroeconomist who co-founded the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) with Mark Weisbrot. Baker has been credited as one of the first economists to have identified the 2007–08 United Sta ...
of the Center for Economic and Policy Research think tank used the term in 2006 to describe
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
policies that protect the income of the rich.


China

In September 2021, the ''Washington Post'' editorial board decried "dictatorships" that "impose decisions about what people can see, hear and — to the extent the regimes can manage it — think." Xi Jinping, as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China, the board wrote, is "pushing the nanny state into people’s personal lives" with regulations on, among other matters, online gaming among the country's teenagers. "Not many
arents Arents is a Dutch and German patronymic surname ("son of Arent").


See also

*
Big government *
Criticisms of welfare The modern welfare state has been criticized on economic and moral grounds from all ends of the political spectrum. Many have argued that the provision of tax-funded services or transfer payments reduces the incentive for workers to seek employ ...
* Economic interventionism * Involuntary unemployment * Hamburger problem *
Managerial state The managerial state is a concept used in critiquing modern procedural democracy. The concept is used largely, though not exclusively, in paleolibertarian, paleoconservative, and anarcho-capitalist critiques of late modern state power in Weste ...
* Moonbat * Paternalism *
Redwashing Redwashing, derived from combining '' red'' with '' whitewashing'', is the practice of a state, organization, political party, or company presenting itself as progressive and concerned about social equality and justice, in order to use this perce ...
*
Totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regu ...
*
Welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * Basham, Patrick. "From the nanny state to the bully state." Institute of Public Affairs Review: A Quarterly Review of Politics and Public Affairs, The 62.1 (2010): 24.


External links

{{Wiktionary, nanny state Criticisms of welfare Pejorative terms for forms of government Conservatism Conservatism in the United States Conservatism in the United Kingdom Libertarian terms Social engineering (political science) 1960s neologisms