Theorizing the third way

New Labour and social justice

Bibliographic Data

ID6292800
AuthorsSteve Buckler, David P Dolowitz (0000-0002-3469-2362)
Year2000
Volume5
Issue3
Pages301-320
Publication date2000-10-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Political Ideologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-9317 • E-ISSN: 1469-9613
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/713682942
OpenAlexW2080867858
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited2

This article seeks to identify distinctive core elements in the ideological standpoint of New Labour. Whilst accepting that New Labour has absorbed theoretical aspects of a number of centre-left traditions, it is argued that an interpretative reconstruction of the resulting ideological configuration reveals it to be a departure from those established traditions. A reading of John Rawls's liberal theory of justice is used as a means of characterizing New Labour's general ideological approach; the implications are then traced through to the policy level and a correspondence between Rawlsian liberalism and New Labour's agenda is established. On this basis, it is argued that New Labour has adopted a 'social liberal' position, emphasizing procedural fairness over distributive patterns, which can be viewed as a departure both from traditional 'social democracy' and from the 'neo-liberalism' of the recent right

Classical liberalism · Democracy · Distributive justice · Economic Justice · Economics · Epistemology · Ideology · Law and economics · Liberalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Social democracy · Social science · Sociology · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Philosophy · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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