This collection of essays examines New Labour's claim to stand in the vanguard of a new form of progressive politics. By examining the ideology of New Labour, the major policy initiatives of Labour government, and the record and prospects of social democratic and progressive governments in the USA and elsewhere in Europe, the contributors attempt to disentangle the progressive and conservative aspects of New Labour politics and the possibilities for genuine progressive advance in Britain and other advanced capitalist countries.
Acknowledgements
Notes on the Contributors
Introduction: New Labour and Future of Progressive Politics; S.White
PART I: THE IDEOLOGY OF NEW LABOUR
The Ambiguities of the Third Way; S.White
New Labour: Old Liberalism; S.Beer
New Labour and Public Opinion: The Third Way as Centrism?; P.Norris
PART II: NEW LABOUR IN GOVERNMENT
Education and Training: Tensions at the Heart of the British Third Way; S.Wood
New Labour: A Distinctive Vision of Welfare Policy?; P.Johnson
Enabling Participation? New Labour's Welfare to Work Policies; C.Oppenheim
A Third Way in Industrial Relations?; C.Crouch
Decentralization under New Labour: A Civic Liberal Perspective; S.Teles & M.Landy
Feminism and the Third Way: A Call for Dialogue; A.Coote
PART III: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES
The Collapse of Bill Clinton's Third Way; M.Weir
Prolegomena to the Third Way Debate; M.Salvati
European Social Democracy and the Third Way: Convergence, Divisions, and Shared Questions; F.Vandenbroucke
The SPD and the Neue Mitte in Germany; A.Busch & P.Manow
Dutch Lessons in Social Pragmatism; A.Hemerijck & J.Visser
Pluralism and the Future of the French Left; L.Bouvet & F.Michel
Conclusion: New Labour and the Uncertain Futures of Progressive Politics; S.Giaimo & S.White
Index
STUART WHITE is Tutorial Fellow in Politics at Jesus College, Oxford. He is co-editor, with David Halpern, Stewart Wood and Gavin Cameron, of Options for Britain: A Strategic Policy Review. He is currently working to complete a book, The Civic Minimum: An Essay on the Rights and Obligations of Economic Citizenship.