Justifying New Labour Policy

225 Pages·2011·1.452 MB·English

by  Judi Atkins (auth.)

Justifying New Labour Policy
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Justifying New Labour
Policy
Judi Atkins
Research Officer, Department of Political and Cultural Studies,
Swansea University, UK
Palgrave
macmillan
© Judi Atkins 2011
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-27911-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
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ISBN 978-1-349-32684-6 ISBN 978-0-230-30728-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230307285
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
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country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Atkins, Judi, 1975–
Justifying New Labour policy / Judi Atkins.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Labour Party (Great Britain) 2. Communication in politics – Great
Britain. 3. Ideology – Great Britain. 4. Great Britain – Politics and
government – 1997–2007. 5. Great Britain – Social policy – 1979– I. Title.
JN1129.L32A83 2011
324.24107—dc22 2011004883
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
This book is dedicated to my family with love and gratitude
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Contents
Acknowledgements x
Introduction 1
The methodologies employed in current analyses of
political discourse 2
The structure of the book 8
Part I The Context of Justification
1 The Context of Ideology 13
The political concept and its constituents 13
The configuration of concepts, or ideology 17
The process of decontestation 19
Essential and effective contestability 21
Some objections to Freeden’s approach 27
2 The Context of Argumentation 30
The three major traditions of Western moral philosophy 30
The use of consequentialist reasoning in political argument 33
How deontological arguments are employed in politics 36
How virtue theory is used in the justification of policy 41
Conclusion 47
3 The Context of Hegemonic Competition 49
The key concepts of discourse theory 49
The dynamics of hegemonic competition and
‘wars of position’ 54
The social imaginary and its institutionalization 60
Moral argument and hegemonic politics 65
Conclusion 67
4 Towards an Understanding of the Dynamics of
Moral Argument in Politics 69
The theoretical framework 69
The methodological implications of the framework 72
Conclusion 77
vii
viii Contents
Part II The Case of New Labour
5 The Ideology of New Labour 81
The underlying assumptions of the Third Way 81
The morphology of New Labour’s ideological platform 83
New Labour’s success as a hegemonic project 91
Conclusion 97
6 New Labour’s Welfare Reforms: The New Deals 99
New Labour’s welfare to work policies 100
The compatibility of the New Deals and their supporting
arguments with New Labour’s ideological commitments 103
The moral arguments used to promote the New Deals 106
New Labour’s tactics for securing hegemonic advantage 109
Conclusion 116
7 Rights and Constitutional Reform: The Human
Rights Act of 1998 118
The Human Rights Act of 1998 119
The compatibility of New Labour’s arguments in favour
of the Human Rights Act with its ideological platform 122
The moral arguments used to win support for the
incorporation of the ECHR into UK law 125
New Labour’s strategy for achieving hegemonic advantage 129
Conclusion 136
8 Community: New Labour’s Policies on Anti-Social Behaviour 138
New Labour’s strategy for tackling anti-social behaviour 139
The compatibility of New Labour’s case for its anti-social
behaviour agenda with its ideological commitments 141
New Labour’s moral arguments in support of its
anti-social behaviour policies 145
New Labour’s tactics for securing hegemonic advantage 148
Conclusion 155
9 Foreign Policy: The Iraq War of 2003 157
New Labour’s case for the war on Iraq 158
The compatibility of New Labour’s arguments for
the Iraq War with its ideological platform 161
New Labour’s moral arguments in support of the Iraq War 164
New Labour’s strategies for winning hegemonic advantage 167
Conclusion 174
Contents ix
Conclusion 176
The moral arguments employed by the Blair governments 176
The argumentative strategies of Gordon Brown’s government 179
Political justification and the case of New Labour 185
Notes 189
Bibliography 196
Index 211