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To what extent is the Labour Party still committed to social democracy?
Until the Labour Party embarked upon New Labour, it had been a promoter of social democracy. Social democracy is a form of socialism which aims to reform the capitalist system to reduce social inequality and promote social justice. The core values of the social democracy can be seen in the old Clause IV which supported ; equality, redistribution of wealth, social justice, nationalisation, full employment and welfare for all.
Its main means of upholding these values were through a mixed economy, Keynesian demand management to support employment and the redistribution of wealth via the welfare system. By the 1970's this system of running the country had led to stagflation, Keynesianism had failed in the eyes of many. The Conservative Party was later elected with a New Right agenda, the consensus following there periods in office was that free-market neo-liberalism was the best at generating wealth.
Labour needed a new ideological direction to become credible again, the “third way” was created which sought to develop a third way between the new right and social democracy, it wished to replace the previously dominant ideological strand in the Labour Party – that of Keynesian redistributive social democracy. Keynesianism was regarded as a vote-loser and unworkable in a modern globalised consumer-driven economy. The first act of New Labour was to have the old Clause IV of the party’s constitution changed to eliminate the commitment to common ownership and in effect to the old style social democracy. These were replaced by commitments to the free market, to the environment, to the ending of discrimination and to equality of opportunity for all. Blair claims that this revision of the party is a new understanding of social democracy, arguing that New Labour is committed to socialist policies such as communitrianism and social justice, despite the abandonment of common ownership and egalitarianism.
New labour is not as interested in an equal distribution of wealth as previous Labour party ideological approaches were, there main concern however is making sure that there is equality of opportunity in society. Influenced by modern liberalism, New Labour has attempted to deliver equality of opportunity through the creation of the New Deal youth employment programme – designed to help those in the poorest sections of society, who may not have had an equal chance to realize their self potential. In general the welfare state for New Labour is designed to facilitate entry into the job market and improved education and health care for everyone, this tactic is best summed up in Clinton's phrase “a hand up, not a hand out”.
Despite Labours new rhetoric, increased levels of spending upon health and education shows the party still has a commitment to social justice and the welfare state. However, welfare benefits are not universal as they were under previous Labour governments of the post-war consensus period, they are now aimed in a more elaborate fashion designed to support the most needy within society. There has also been a slight redistribution of wealth via the tax system, despite cuts in income tax, the so called stealth taxes have redistributed wealth, mainly from the middle class's to the working class. Old labour policies can also be seen in the adoption of the Eu social chapter and the introduction of a minimum wage, showing the Labour Party has not forgotten its social democratic roots with supporting the poorer sections of society.
New Labours ideological approach is influenced by liberal communitarianism, with a stress on Etzionian principles community, co-operation, fraternity and solidarity. One of the major failings of social democracy according to the third way, is granting rights through the welfare state but not balancing these rights by demanding responsibility from citizens in return. New Labour has placed emphasis on social responsibility as well as individual rights. Citizens are encouraged to perform civic duties, obey the law, support voluntary groups, vote in elections and participate as modern citizens.
New labour has followed a social liberal approach showing a commitment to the old labour belief in equality. This has been shown in numerous ways some keys examples have been the repealing of Section 28, introduction of civil partnerships amongst other policies. However New Labour's war on terror has led to numerous draconian bills which are extremely authoritarian. The approach to law and order has also shown distinctly conservative overtones. A commitment to longer prison sentences, greater use of custodial sentences, increased police powers and larger numbers of police officers are more typical of a conservative approach to the problem of crime. Social democrats have typically targeted tackling the causes of crime and preventing re-offending as priorities in this policy area, a contrast to the “lock them up” approach of New Labour.
Overall Labour has distanced itself from social democracy, as the ditching of nationalisation, keynesian economics shows . The dominant theme within the New Labour approach has been a commitment to different forms of liberalism as exemplified in the parties support for ; equality of opportunity - a modern liberal idea, the importance of rights as well as responsibilities taken from liberal communitarianism and social liberalism.
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This essay is aimed at people studying for A Level Politics, but will be suitable for other people too.
Originally submitted by lesususu on TSR Forums.
