The Discourse of Globalization and British Party
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© COPYRIGHT by Daniel T. Dye 2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED To my parents. “…WHETHER AUTUMN SHOULD FOLLOW SUMMER:” THE DISCOURSE OF GLOBALIZATION AND BRITISH PARTY POLITICS BY Daniel T. Dye ABSTRACT British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that debating globalization would be akin to debating “whether autumn should follow summer.” This projection of globalization into domestic debates as an inevitable and constraining force is one of the most important developments in European politics since the 1990s. This dissertation uses an in-depth qualitative case study and discourse analysis of British party competition to examine the relationship between these developments. Why have British parties consistently referred to globalization as an objective facet, especially emergent parties whose appeal is built on challenging mainstream consensus? What might this tell us about the rhetorical strategies available to political parties generally? To deal with these questions, I synthesize a theory of political rhetoric, drawing from William Riker’s work on political manipulation, or “heresthetics,” and Norman Fairclough’s “Critical Discourse Analysis.” My approach interprets parties as using discursive constructions, such as globalization, as tools to restructure voters’ underlying calculations. This challenges the existing literatures on party competition and critical political economy, both of which treat rhetoric and discourses as secondary to policy competition. I apply the theory through three discourse analyses of speeches and publications from different parties within the British system: Blair’s center-left Labour Party, the pro-independence Scottish National Party, and the anti-EU UK Independence Party. ii Across the cases, I find that references to globalization closely parallel concrete political goals: Labour used the rhetoric of economic globalization to represent the world as fundamentally changed, forcing voters to reevaluate their perceptions of the party. The smaller parties deployed the same kind of language to project political responsibility, even as they mounted major challenges to the constitutional status quo. These findings challenge the conventional understanding of Blair’s globalization discourse as entirely ideological and complicate the assumption that new parties have been successful precisely because they challenge mainstream globalist consensus. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Any work of this type is the product of many hands. I would like to acknowledge firstly the untiring efforts of my dissertation committee in making this the best product that it can be: Aaron Boesenecker, Michelle Egan, and most importantly, my chair Steve Silvia, who has been an invaluable advisor and mentor throughout the many turns that my work has taken. I would also be remiss if I did not acknowledge Jim Mittelman, Sharon Weiner, and Cathy Schneider for the professional and personal mentorship that they have provided at different stages. I am also indebted to my peers in the SIS PhD Program for their advice and support in this process. Without attempting an exhaustive list, I would like to thank Kate Reese, Tom Long, Ryan Briggs, Sebastian Bitar, Jason Rancatore, Kate Tennis, deRaismes Combes, Katie Collin, Marcy Babicz, and Leah Gates. For their financial support of this project, I would like to thank the American University School of International Service, the American University Office of the Vice-Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, and the American Consortium on European Union Studies. Among other things, the support of these organizations allowed me to travel to the United Kingdom for research. I would like to thank all of those political veterans and academics in London, Bristol, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Glasgow who were willing to grant interviews to a first-time researcher. Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to acknowledge the immeasurable support, patience, and love of my partner, Laura. None of this would be possible without her. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 Literature and Research Design .............................................................................. 5 Cases ..................................................................................................................... 10 Plan of the Dissertation ......................................................................................... 17 2 GLOBALIZATION AND PARTY COMPETITION .................................................. 19 Globalization in National Politics ......................................................................... 20 Party Competition: Five Ideal-Types .................................................................... 26 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 44 3 GLOBALIZATION AS PARTY COMPETITION? ..................................................... 47 Theoretical Framework: The Heresthetician-Bricoleur Party............................... 48 Methodology: Textual Analysis for Party Studies ................................................ 61 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 75 4 NEW LABOUR, NEW NARRATIVE ......................................................................... 78 Existing Readings: The Ideological and Policy Functions of “Globalization” ..................................................................................................... 81 Case Narrative Part 1: Downs and Out, 1983 – 1992 ........................................... 84 Case Narrative Part 2: New Labour, New Britain, New World, 1992-1997 ........ 88 Case Narrative Part 3: Party Unity and the European Dimension, 1997- 2010....................................................................................................................... 99 Findings and Case Conclusions .......................................................................... 113 5 THE INTERNATIONALISM OF SCOTTISH NATIONALISTS ............................ 119 Existing Readings: Independence- or Office-Seeking Party? ............................. 122 Case Narrative Part 1: From Protest to Parliament, 1989-1997.......................... 126 Case Narrative Part 2: A Party in Transition, 1998-2006 ................................... 140 Case Narrative Part 3: The Party in Power, 2007-2013 ...................................... 149 Findings and Case Conclusions .......................................................................... 156 6 UKIP’S GLOBALIST EUROSKEPTICISM? ........................................................... 162 Existing Readings: Euroskepticism, Right-Wing Populism, or What? .............. 165 Case Narrative Part 1: From Bruges to By-Elections, 1988-1992 ...................... 173 v Case Narrative Part 2: Formation and Turmoil, 1993-2003 ............................... 176 Case Narrative Part 3: Consolidation and Electoral Success, 2004-2013 .......... 186 Findings and Case Conclusion ............................................................................ 197 7 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 202 Applying the Heresthetician-Bricoleur Party Type ............................................ 204 Globalization as Discourse and Heresthetic ....................................................... 212 Significance and Future Research ....................................................................... 225 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 232 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Labour Party, SNP, and UKIP Election Results (1987-2014) .................................................. 11 2. Labour Party General Election Results (1987-2010) ................................................................ 80 3. SNP Scottish Parliament Election Results (1999-2011) ......................................................... 120 4. UKIP European Parliament Election Results (1994-2014) .................................................... 162 vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The pace of change can either overwhelm us, or make our lives better and our country stronger. What we can't do is pretend it is not happening. I hear people say we have to stop and debate globalisation. You might as well debate whether autumn should follow summer. British Prime Minister Tony Blair (2005) Tony Blair spoke these words as Leader of the British Labour Party to its Annual Conference in 2005. The party had recently won its third consecutive General Election, and the Prime Minister was laying out the challenge that the Labour government would have to face in its next term. At the center of this challenge was globalization; it is no longer a question British or Labour values but “how we put them into practice in a world fast forwarding to the future at unprecedented speed” (Blair 2005). This is a world defined by mobile