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Third Way Essay

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The “Third Way” separated itself from the old party’s agenda and endeavored to border itself from the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major that ruled until 1997. Giddens, the political theorist of the Third Way, believed the old class-based divisions of the left and right were redundant. He wanted to create no more than an outline of an integrated political programme, covering each of the major sectors of society. Kramp argues such a massive initiative proved Giddens intent to design a coherent political agenda and an alternative to total capitalism and complete socialism. Kramp asserts Giddens believed that reformist governments could no longer rely on traditional statist programmes claiming that campaigning from the centre would illicit mutual support while still remaining dedicated to radical measures. A point Tony Blair included in his 1997 speech at the European Socialists’ Congress, where he stated the Left had to “modernise or die.’” He stressed to Congress the need to abandon old left "statist" policies claiming “…. our task today is not to fight old battles but to show that there is a third way, a way of marrying together an open, competitive and successful economy with a just, decent and humane society.”

Freeden suggests that the ‘ideological map’ of New Labour was “…located somewhere …show more content…

On the other hand they also suggest many critics viewed New Labour as a consolidation of Thatcherism, describing Tony Blair as the ‘son of Margaret’ as well as claims that the rebranding of the Labour party, together with the re-writing of Clause IV, was in fact prompted by

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