The New Labour and the Welfare State

Résumé du document

Firstly let us analyze the approaches the New Labor has chosen through a different ideological and pragmatic frame than earlier Labor governments when it comes to welfare provision and public policies. In this context, the New Labor has followed the Thatcherite tradition in working towards what could be called a neo-conservative welfare state. The second part would be the analysis of the characteristics of the New Labor policies that highlight a certain continuity with a leftist tradition, which leads to the possibility that the New Labor has created a "third way" in the approaches concerning the welfare state. This division follows an ongoing debate on the role of the New Labor concerning the evolution of the welfare state.

Extraits

[...] The state actually accepts the responsibility to improve the employability of its citizens through education and training, but does not see itself as an employer of last resort. The notion of responsibility is very important, as it is part of the political vocabulary of the conservatives, as opposed to the left tradition, more in favour of the rights of the citizens. However, Giddens proposes in 1998 rights without responsibilities”. With the New Labour, there is a very different view of human nature as it was in the traditional left, as the citizen is perceived as almost only motivated by its personal gain. [...]

[...] To conclude, there is a considerable ideological and pragmatic shift with the New Labour towards the embracement of a Thatcherite tradition, and therefore there is a distortion from the old labour tradition of welfare. However, it would not be accurate to affirm that the New Labour's approach to welfare issues is indistinguishable from the ones of the governments of Thatcher and Major. Therefore, even if it is necessary to affirm that there is a neo-liberal influence on the New Labour, a more nuanced approach would be preferable, acknowledging the different political traditions that have influenced it, as well as its own initiatives. [...]

[...] The goal of the New Labour is to find a certain balance between economic success and social inclusion, which implies the balance between the market and the community. There is therefore a divergence from the conceptions of the welfare state by earlier labour governments, as the New Labour, like the conservatives, has now an ideological commitment to the free market. Just as the neo-liberal views, the New Labour is sceptic about the role of the state, and there is a will to create a partnership, returning to the Thatcherite notion of the managerial state. [...]

[...] Public/ private partnership and the voluntary sector will have and should have a greater role to play”. In fact, the New Labour and the conservatives have the same emphasis on individual costumer service rather than provider-led welfare. This entrepreneurial culture that the New Labour wants to create is encouraged by a tax system that rewards those who take risks. There is in fact a real ideological change: the government does not want anymore to tax the rich as a matter of principle. [...]

[...] In that configuration, the state was seen as responsible not only for the provision, but also for the funding of the welfare. However, this postwar type of welfare state was challenged, first due to economic and social changes that made it less consensual, and mostly because of the Thatcherite government. Indeed, the conservatives had a different ideology regarding the welfare. Their will was to turn the provider state into a regulatory state, promoting individual responsibility of the citizens, and therefore rejecting the concept of their dependability on the state. [...]