Justifying New Labour Policy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 1-10

3. The Context of Justification

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. The Context of Ideology

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 13-29

   3. The Context of Argumentation

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 30-48

   4. The Context of Hegemonic Competition

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 49-68

   5. Towards an Understanding of the Dynamics of Moral Argument in Politics

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 69-77

4. The Case of New Labour

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 79-79

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   2. The Ideology of New Labour

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 81-98

   3. New Labour’s Welfare Reforms: The New Deals

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 99-117

   4. Rights and Constitutional Reform: The Human Rights Act of 1998

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 118-137

   5. Community: New Labour’s Policies on Anti-Social Behaviour

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 138-156

   6. Foreign Policy: The Iraq War of 2003

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 157-175

5. Conclusion

   1. Conclusion

      • Judi Atkins

      Pages 176-188

6. Back Matter

   Pages 189-217

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An original combination of theoretical innovation and a detailed empirical analysis of the ideas, language and policy of New Labour. Politicians often appeal to moral principles and arguments in their efforts to win support for new policy programmes. Yet the question of how politicians use moral language has until now been neglected by scholars.

• constitution
• foreign policy
• human rights
• morality
• Policy
• politics
• reforms
• British Politics
• us politics

• Department of Political and Cultural Studies, Swansea University, UK

  Judi Atkins

JUDI ATKINS is Research Officer in the Department of Politics and Cultural Studies at Swansea University, UK. Her research interests include political argumentation and rhetoric, ideology and British politics, and she has published a number of articles in these areas. She is currently working with Alan Finlayson on a Leverhulme Trust-funded project on British political speech.

Policies and ethics