The Third Way and New Liberalism: Responding to Globalisation at the Domestic/International Frontier Alison Ruth Holmes Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the PhD in International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London 2004 UMI Number: U194845 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U194845 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 1 Li u f o ry British Ltorary otPolitical and Eoonoanc Science I H-£-S£FS P Zl+OZ Abstract The self-identified intellectual currents known in Britain as New Liberalism and the Third Way can be seen as domestic political responses to two periods of ‘globalisation’ - understood here as a specific type of transformational change occasioned by simultaneous technological, economic, social and political shift. The resulting changes in perceptions of time, speed and distance alter political and popular understandings of relations between local, national and international, and between society, state and economy. It is also indicative of a shift in the development of the state; from the ‘pre­ modem’ to the ‘modern’ in the first timeframe, and the ‘modern’ to a new stage that could be termed ‘global’ more recently. New Liberalism and the Third Way were both developed as elite-led, domestic, synthesising political philosophies in the face of an electoral threat brought about by societal change and external economic challenge. These examples suggest that the current globalisation debate is flawed as it treats as a single phenomenon different aspects of change and fails to recognise the implications of the similarities between these two periods. There is no suggestion that there are only two periods of change only that systemic change is qualitatively different. International Relations as an academic discipline is responding inadequately because of a reluctance to overcome the tendency to downplay links between domestic and international spheres and levels of state development. By comparing these specific periods of transformation and their political ideologies in the British context, this thesis will explore the relationship between international and domestic political ideology at times of such change and suggest that the result is a specific kind of transitional politics born of both innovation and necessity. Finally, while this kind of political engagement has been neglected by international relations, it may prove to be evidence of stages of development in the state. 2 For my parents - a lifetime is not enough 3 Contents ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................................2 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................8 Questions.............................................................................................................................................8 Approach..............................................................................................................................................8 Argum ent...........................................................................................................................................11 Contribution...................................................................................................................................... 13 The Third Way and New Liberalism: Responding to globalisation at the domestic/international 'frontier'.............................................................................................14 The Third W ay..................................................................................................................................16 New Liberalism.................................................................................................................................17 International influences..................................................................................................................18 The globalisation debate.................................................................................................................19 Methodology.....................................................................................................................................23 1 GLOBALISATION - OR GLOBAL AGE?......................................................................................... 25 De-industrialisation as globalisation?.......................................................................................... 26 Radical or 'business-school' globalisation.................................................................................. 29 The sceptics...................................................................................................................................... 30 'Strong state' globalisation?........................................................................................................... 31 Alternative framework for the globalisation debate..................................................................34 Radicals and sceptics - a response...............................................................................................36 Giddens on globalisation................................................................................................................37 Summary of globalisation debates...............................................................................................39 Modern or global?...........................................................................................................................40 Global-isation - global age............................................................................................................ 44 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 45 2 TRANSITIONS IN THE STATE, IN CAPITALISM - OR IN BOTH?........................................... 47 States and statehood........................................................................................................................47 The 'English' state............................................................................................................................ 50 The two faces of the state...............................................................................................................52 The Realist/Idealist debate............................................................................................................. 55 The globalisation debate and International Relations.............................................................. 58 Globalisation and the 'great divide' within International Relations.......................................64 The frontier....................................................................................................................................... 67 Frontier 'moments'..........................................................................................................................69 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................71 3 TRANSFORMATION: 1880S AND 1980S.....................................................................................73 Theory, ideology and practice.......................................................................................................74 Positional attitudes.......................................................................................................................... 77 Blair's territory ..................................................................................................................................79 Political theory and policy fram e.................................................................................................. 82 Two transformational/progressive ideologies............................................................................83 New Liberalism and the Third Way compared...........................................................................85 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 87 4 MOVING INTO THE 'MODERN' AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 89 Industrial Revolution as globalisation.......................................................................................... 89 4 'Golden age' to decline...................................................................................................................90 Why 1880?........................................................................................................................................ 92 Economic context............................................................................................................................94