Justifying New Labour Policy This page intentionally left blank 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 publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work 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, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. 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 processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the 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 This page intentionally left blank 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