Editing David Willetts (section)

==Civic conservatism==
{{Conservatism UK}}
Willetts has pioneered the idea of "civic conservatism". This is the idea of focusing on the institutions between the state and individuals as a policy concern (rather than merely thinking of individuals and the state as the only agencies) and is one of the principles behind the increasing support in the Conservative Party's localist agenda and its emphasis on voluntary organisations. Willetts civic conservatism moves away from the "hard-edged" nature of Thatcherism to a softer social agenda. During an interview with ''[[The Spectator]]'', he was referred to as 'the real father of Cameronism' by [[Fraser Nelson]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/23081/the-real-father-of-cameronism.thtml |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130421073941/http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/23081/the-real-father-of-cameronism.thtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 April 2013 |author=Fraser Nelson |date=24 June 2006 |title=The real father of Cameronism |journal=The Spectator |access-date=5 June 2011 }}</ref>

Fourteen years after the publication of "Civic Conservatism" Willetts gave the inaugural [[Michael Oakeshott|Oakeshott]] Memorial Lecture to the [[London School of Economics]] in which he made an attempt to explain how game theory can be used to help think about how to improve [[social capital]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/PublicEvents/pdf/20080220_Willetts.pdf|title=Renewing civic conservatism. The Oakeshott Lecture. LSE, 20th February 2008|publisher=London School of Economics |access-date=26 May 2014}}</ref> The lecture was described by the Times as "an audacious attempt by the Conservative Party's leading intellectual to relate a new Tory narrative".<ref>{{cite news |author=Daniel Finkelstein |title=Blood, bats and bonding: a new way |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/daniel_finkelstein/article3399671.ece |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080829184824/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/daniel_finkelstein/article3399671.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 August 2008 |access-date=19 August 2010 |newspaper=The Times |date=20 February 2008}}</ref>

<blockquote>Civic conservatism, like free market economics, proceeds from deep-seated individual self-interest towards a stable cooperation. It sets the Tories the task not of changing humanity but of designing institutions and arrangements that encourage our natural reciprocal altruism.<ref>{{cite web |author=Daniel Finkelstein |url=http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/02/civic-conservat.html |title=Civic conservatism replies to compassionate conservatism |work=The Times |date=20 February 2008 |access-date=4 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131133053/http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2008/02/civic-conservat.html |archive-date=31 January 2011 }}</ref></blockquote>