What is Beyond Right/Left? The Case of New Labour

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

Abstract

The article looks at New Labour's move beyond right/left in the mid/late 1990s, which is an occasion to spell out the nature of right/left and what it means for democracy. In contrast to both defenders and critics of this move I argue in the first part that right/left is not an empty label bound up with the cleavage-lines of industrial society, but that it is an orientational metaphor which is articulated with others-in/out, up/down and front/back-and that we are in the process of moving beyond the industrial society right/left prototype. The second part looks at where New Labour is heading when moving beyond right/left. I argue that the new hegemonic orientation is that of front/back, which designs political renewal as a response to the social changes cutting across the outdated lines of contestation of partisan politics. The democratic problem of this move lies in squeezing politics between technocratic management and moralizing appeals.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftJournal of Political Ideologies
Vol/bind14
Udgave nummer2
Sider (fra-til)133-153
Antal sider21
ISSN1356-9317
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2009

Citer dette