scholarly journals The renewal of social democracy and the „third way” of the British Labour Party

2003 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Havas
Keyword(s):  
Social Democracy ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
The Third ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

The author tries to enlighten and analyse the current processes in the European Social Democracy intending to renew its strategy and doctrine and adapt it to the new economic, political and social challenges. He devotes special attention to the attempts of the British Labour Party to modernise itself and create a new doctrinal approach, the so-called third way. The author analyses the history of the New Labour and characteristics of the Tony Blair-led party, elaborating in detail the contents of the third way. The main conclusion he makes is that, in spite of the New Labour?s success at the two last general elections in Britain and the positive lessons to be drawn from the third way, it does not mean that all Social Democratic Parties should follow that example, for different social conditions demand different strategies and policies and relevant responses by every party.

scholarly journals Milovan Đilas and the British Labour Party, 1950-1960

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateja Režek
Keyword(s):  
Labour Party ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Democratic Socialism ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Relationship

The article deals with Milovan Đilas’ political transformation presented through an analysis of his connections with the British Labourites, and with the reaction of the Labour Party to the Đilas Affair. After the dispute with the Cominform, Yugoslav leaders tried to initiate alternative international contacts through Western socialist and social democratic parties, considering the most suitable partner the British Labour Party. Official contacts with the latter were established in 1950, the key role in the dialogue with the British Labourites played by the head of the Commission for International Relations, Milovan Đilas. In the aftermath of the Đilas Affair, the once warm relations between the British Labourites and Yugoslav Communists grew rather cool, but the leadership of the Labour Party did not wish to compromise their relations with Yugoslavia, and therefore reacted to it with considerable wariness. Although Yugoslavia remained an authoritarian state under the leadership of the Communist Party, in the eyes of the West it continued to represent a significant factor in the destabilisation of the Eastern Bloc, and the friendly relationship between the Labour Party and the Yugoslav Communists were primarily based on foreign policy interests of the two parties. In the second half of the 1950s, the relationship between the Labour Party and the Yugoslav Communists rested, even more than before, on pragmatic geopolitical consideration and not on ideological affinity; the interest of the British Labourites in the Yugoslav self-management experiment decreased significantly, as did the Yugoslav interest in democratic socialism, the idea that Đilas was so passionate about.

4. Beyond the dominant orthodoxies

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-135
Author(s):  
Michael Newman
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc, countries around the world struggled to implement their versions of social democracy. ‘Beyond the dominant orthodoxies’ looks at recent developments in China (successful, but too business-oriented and inflexible to be the future of socialism), the UK (weakened by the ‘third way’ of the late 1990s and lack of engagement with political parties), and other European countries (threatened by lack of support for social democratic parties and the rise of the far right). None of the new movements in Spain, Greece, Latin America, or the UK was entirely successful, but many succeeded in embedding elements of socialism in their countries’ politics.

From Reformism to Resignation and Remedialism? Labour's Trajectory Through British Politics

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Wickham-Jones
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
New Labour ◽  
General Election ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Radical Transformation

On 9 April 1992, the British Labour party lost its fourth successive general election. The outcome, coming after prolonged economic difficulties, led many commentators to call into question altogether the viability of the reformist project in the United Kingdom. For Labour's leaders, the result was bitterly disappointing. To lose any general election is, of course, evidence of failure. But, given the extent of the radical transformation the party appeared to have undergone in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to lose in the propitious circumstances of 1992 was especially frustrating. Just over five years later, however, much of the period under a new leader, Tony Blair, and having undergone further dramatic adaptation, including a comprehensive rebranding as “New Labour,” the party not only took office at the general election of 1 May 1997 but won a landslide victory of 179 seats. A little over four years later it won a second landslide victory with a majority just 12 seats fewer at 167: it was an unparalleled achievement in the party's history.

Ideological and Political Evolution of Labour Party in the late XX – at the Beginning of XXI Centuries

2013 ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
N. Rabotyazhev
Keyword(s):  
Labour Party ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Evolution ◽  
British Labour ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Characteristic Features

The article is devoted to ideological and political changes of the British Labour Party in the late XXth and at the beginning of the XXIst centuries. The author considers the main characteristic features of the British Labourism, the causes of the Labour Party’s crisis in the late 70-s, and the ideological renewal of the party during the following years. The modernization of the Labour Party under Tony Blair’s leadership, main principles of “The New Labourism” and “The Third Way”, and the evolution of the Labour Party under Blair’s successors are also thoroughly analyzed. The author comes to a conclusion that the New Labourism wasn’t a rupture with Labour tradition, but rather its new interpretation.

The Retreat of Social Democracy. By John Callaghan. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. 255p. $69.95 cloth, $24.95 paper. Against the Third Way. By Alex Callinicos. Oxford: Polity Press, 2001. 160p. $56.95 cloth, $21.95 paper. Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times: The Left and Economic Policy since 1980. Edited by Andrew Glyn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 374p. $70.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 652-654
Author(s):  
Fred Block
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Financial Integration ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Welfare State

Since the 1980s, global financial integration and the rise of neoliberalism have significantly changed the terrain on which European social democratic parties operate. However, fierce debate persists over the evaluation of these changes. Some observers—from widely differing political standpoints—insist that social democracy and the free movement of capital across national boundaries are fundamentally incompatible. It follows that the only options for social democratic parties are either to embrace neoliberalism and dismantle much of the welfare state or organize concerted action to reshape the global financial architecture. An opposing group of analysts are equally adamant that while the terrain has certainly become more difficult, it is still possible for Social Democrats to preserve much of the welfare state and even launch new policy initiatives.

New Labour's post-Thatcherite modernisation project: a Third Way?

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
MIRIAM DAVID
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Summer School ◽  
Family Policy ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Policy Action ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Usa

Tony Blair The Third Way: new politics for the new century, pamphlet no. 588, Fabian Society, London, 1998, 20 pp., £3.50.Stephen Driver and Luke Martell, New Labour: politics after Thatcherism, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1998, xii + 210 pp. £45.00, £12.99 (pbk).Anthony Giddens, The Third Way: the renewal of social democracy, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1998, x + 166 pp., £25.00, £7.99 (pbk).Colin Hay, The Political Economy of New Labour: labouring under false pretences?, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1999, xiii + 242 pp. £45.00, £14.99.Martin Powell (ed.), New Labour, New Welfare State? The ‘third way’ in British social policy, The Policy Press, University of Bristol, 1999, ix + 351 pp., £45.00, £18.99.Having just returned from a month in the USA, teaching summer school to graduate students on social and family policy in education, I eagerly read and/or reread these publications to get a renewed sense of politics and policy in Britain today. Whilst I was in the USA I became steeped in discussions of ‘post’ perspectives – post-colonial, post-modern, post-structuralist, post-feminist – on ‘discourses of welfare’ or the welfare state which now may include education and even communitarianism. I found myself longing for a more pragmatic as well as programmatic, or what might be called ‘critical realist’, perspective. So I was not disappointed by having to engage with these four books and the pamphlet, although initially they seemed a long way from my current research interests on ‘family and education’ from a feminist perspective.I have had a very enjoyable, exciting and even exhilarating time reading them. Together they present a most appealing package of accounts of New Labour as we are about to enter the new millennium. One gets the feeling of tremendous political activity and policy action over the last few years with plans and proposals galore for the future. To paraphrase the words of Celine Dionne for the heroine of Titanic ‘It will go on...’

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