Globalisation is a recent phenomenon that has changed the way that people see the world as well as how we live our lives. According to Soros (2002) ‘globalisation is the free movement of capital and the increase domination of national economies by global financial markets and multinational corporations. While this portrayal of globalisation is very accurate, I think that it is incomplete. Globalisation is also the spread of culture and information. The development and evolution of Internet and other means of communication such as television has greatly enabled people to communicate and “get to know” other parts of the world. Furthermore, people are now more than ever susceptible of being influenced by other countries values and traditions. The movie industry and Hollywood can be seen as example of this. Another phenomenon that is further pushing globalisation further is international migration which according to Munck (2009) is ‘reshaping economics and political systems.
Modernisation is a ‘historical process in which economically backward countries catch up with the advanced standard in economics and technology through technological renovation’ (Rongqu, 1996).To put it more simply, modernisation can be regarded as progress and “evolution” and it is inevitable for the world to continue to experience constant progress. In 1994, when Labour was struggling, modernisation was taking huge and remarkable steps forward and therefore Labour policies needed to be adjusted.
It was during this agitated and troubled period that the recently elected party leader, Tony Blair, took over the party and aimed to radically change the party traditional beliefs, values and most importantly the damaged image of the party. Like I previously mentioned, Conservatism policies had become very popular while on the other hand Labour policies were seen by the population as outdated and not very effective (Kavanagh, Richards, Smith and Geddes, 2006).Tony Blair had an enormous task on his hands if we was to succeeded. In the same way that Margaret Thatcher implemented radical changes when elected leader of the Conservatism in 1975, Tony Blair changed and reformed some of Labour long rooted and traditional policies which were deemed not effective in the eyes of the population. More specifically, Blair abandoned a majority of the left wing policies that Labour had been following since its creation and shifted towards the centre. As result of this change, Labour started to be called as “new Labour”. The changes he made were the following:
-
Rewrote Clause Four of the party constitution: Blair made changes in the party traditional ideology and established that “new Labour” from then on would work hard in order to establish a dynamic and more effective economy, a fair society, an open democracy and a healthy environment (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran and Norton, 2001).
-
Abandoned policy of public ownership: the theory of the public owning the industries was not succeeding in other countries and therefore was deemed as infective in the public eye.
-
Changed electoral market: instead of attracting and pleasing only the working class, “new Labour” was now vowing and aiming to appeal every voter regardless of their social class.
-
Commitment to businesses: trade unions were no longer benefited by any means and didn’t have their rights restored as they were previously been removed by former party leader Neil Kinnock. . “New Labour” was now striving for good terms with businesses as they were deemed important for the economy and was also in favour of competition in a “free market”.
-
Renounced the party beliefs on high taxation: Labour had always been a supporter of a policy of high tax, however this decision was heavily criticised by the conservatism and the population. As a result Blair reformed the party taxing and spending policies.
-
Highlight on competition in the economy: Fond of Margaret Thatcher policies, Blair abandoned Labour’s disregard towards competiveness and believed that in order for the economy to benefit and flourish, competition among business in Britain was of high importance.
-
Establishment of market driven economy: “new Labour” strongly believed in the competition between businesses on a “free market”. With growth in the economy investments would directly be made to improve public services and increase the good fortune of the nation.
-
Earn influence in the European Union (E.U): one of the main policies which “new Labour” intended to implement was to improve relations within Europe and obtain an influential role in the European Union (Redgrave, 2008).
Within a short period of time, Tony Blair managed to change the Labour party image considerable and greatly improved the way that people used to perceive Labour. It is important to refer that Tony Blair was clearly inspired by Margaret Thatcher, an enthusiastic former party leader of the conservatism (1975-79) and former prime minister (1979-90) whose strict ideologies and belief in conservatism policies turned her into an influential and inspirational figure. The reason why Tony Blair “shift” from the Left wing towards the centre is compared to Thatcher is because during her time in charge of conservatism party, she also “moved” away and disregarded some of the conservatism deep rooted policies that were unpopular at the time and marked a change from the traditional Tory collectivism (Burch and Moran, 1987).This became known as Thatcherism.
Despite Blair managing to remarkably change Labour crumbling image there was still a price to pay. More specifically, the fact that Blair opted to move away from some Left-wing policies brought some opposition within members of the Labour party. Some members criticized Blair and strongly opposed his leadership since they felt that it didn’t follow Labour’s core values. As a result some tension was originated between “old Labour”, the members who were full supporters of the traditional Labour party policies such as favouring trade unions, and the “new Labour” which were members that agreed with Blair “shift” from the Left-wing policies and favoured competition in the market. However this emergence of opposition wouldn’t affect Blair and his “new Labour” as after this transitional period Labour managed to win 4 consecutive elections and remained in power for 13 years, something that had never happened before in Britain history. Tony Blair eventually made history by serving as a Labour prime minister for 10 years and became an iconic figure in Britain politics. It is also important to mention that under Blair leadership, Britain was provided a new guidance with measures such as the introduction of a national minimum wage. Furthermore, Labour managed to decrease unemployment and heavily invested on NHS during its time on power.
It is very hard to figure out which section of the party is now most dominant. During the time of Blair and Brown as the leaders of the Labour party, it could be said that “new Labour” supporters and members within the party were the dominant force since the policies introduced were working perfectly and Labour had never been stronger. However, since Blair and Brown left and considering the fact that the Conservatism party has won the last election and is now in power, it seems that “new Labour” has lost some momentum. Furthermore, the new leader of the Labour party, Ed Miliband doesn’t seem to be too supportive of the measures that Blair implemented when in charge of the party. In fact, Miliband considers himself to be a socialist and seems to favour the traditional Labour ideology and left-wing policies (Beckett, 2011).As of now, it is possible to declare that “new Labour” is losing dominance, however, due their increased and historically success in the last decades, they are still the dominant section of the party. Only time will tell if Ed Miliband is capable of turning this situation around.
Would you expect the business community to prefer “new” or “old” Labour? Why?
When Tony Blair was elected leader of the Labour party in 1994, he employed radical changes into the party ideology that took Britain by surprise. Like it is stated in the case study, Blair reformed Labour deep rooted policies that had been in practice since its origin and considerably moved from the traditional left-wing values towards a more “centre left”. Although he had only the best of intentions and was solely aiming to bring Labour back into relevance in the government, some part of the Labour party didn’t agree with his set of actions. This caused a certain division in the party, in sense that Labour had members that still believed in the traditional, left-wing values and were against Blair’s” revolution” (“old” Labour) and members that understood the need for a change and fully supported Blair’s set of action and eagerness in reforming the party values and policies (“new “Labour).In this essay I am going to cover the second question of the case study and explain whether the business community would prefer “old” or “new” Labour.
With the emergence of globalisation and with the inevitable occurrence of modernisation, businesses have been playing an important role in the society and more importantly in the economy. Britain is known for its many top businesses, particularly from the retail industry such as Top Man, Next and Primarck.While businesses are indeed very important for the economy they also can have a huge impact on the communities. According to Allen (2010) ‘businesses can play a leading role by making an important transition for our community from good citizen to great neighbour’. Even though businesses tend to be private owned they still are committed in improving local communities whether by donating money to non-profit organisations or by promoting local communities activities.
When created in 1900, the Labour party main objectives were to provide an alternative choice to Conservatism and its ideology and to represent the working class. It was based on its urge to satisfy and give benefits to the working class that the party established its policies and values. The reason why Labour was so fixated and focused on appealing only that part of the society was because, unlike the Conservatism that favoured hierarchy and strong leadership, Labour ideology was based on democracy and collective decision making (Jones, Kavanagh, Moran and Norton, 2001).And since the working class represented (and still does so) the largest percentage of the population in the society, it was only natural for Labour to represent their interests. In addition, the working class was deep in Labour’s “DNA” since the party was created by trade unions, cooperative and socialist societies.
One of the main policies that were established by Labour due to its commitment towards the working class was public ownership. Public ownership is the government ownership of lands, streets, public buildings, utilities, and other business enterprises (Columbia University Press, 2011).In a public ownership system, the government controls an industry with the ultimate goal of supplying the population with services or goods. For example, if an organisation is public owned that means that the government has complete control over its operations, management and finance. All the profit that the organisation manages to make will be taken by the government in order to use it for the benefit of the population. While public ownership seems to be very advantageous for the community, it is not seen in good eyes by businesses because it dramatically takes away their profit and puts restrictions on their ambitions. In fact businesses owners often prefer private ownership, as it allows for total control of operations and maximum profit return.
With the election of Tony Blair as leader of the Labour party, old policies and values were reformed. Public ownership was no longer regarded as an effective and popular policy and therefore changes were made. Instead of defending the benefits of public ownership, “new” Labour took a different approach and started to promote competition between British businesses. This measure was a completely turn-around of events in a sense that Labour was now supporting a free market based on competitiveness just like the Conservatism party. However, “new” Labour had a slightly different approach and was eager on helping to create businesses in Britain as well as supporting the business community which play a crucial role in the economy. With that objective in mind, “new” Labour implemented the following policies:
-
Highlight on competitiveness: Due to the unpopularity and ineffectiveness of public ownership policy and also because of the economic instability that was being experienced at that time period, “new” Labour favoured competition among businesses in Britain in order to boost the industry and the economy. Businesses now had the conditions to succeed.
-
Establishment of a dynamic market economy: In order to allow for competitiveness it was required a more flexible market that would benefit both employers and employees. Furthermore, in order for employees to be able to adjust to a flexible market, an emphasis was established on having higher skills.
-
Prioritising education: This was fundamental in order to support competition in the market. “New” Labour established higher standards on schools in order to provide to provide future employees in with the necessary skills to survive in an economy based on competition.
-
Incentive towards businesses: As a way to motivate businesses “new” Labour established competition laws, fiscal rules and handed control over interest rates to independents financial institutions.
With the introduction of these policies it possible to state that new Labour is indeed business friendly as it is referred in the case study.
Having analysed in detail and compared the policies from both “old” and “new” Labour regarding businesses in Britain, it is possible to conclude that the business community would naturally favour new Labour and its government.
Reference List
Allen S.L., (2010). ‘From Good Citizen to Great Neighbour--The Growing Role of Business in Today's Community’. Vital Speeches of the Day. Sep2010, Vol. 76 Issue 9, p410-412, 3p.Available through: Business Source Premier database.
Beckett, A. (2011). ‘Ed Miliband: Welcome to my world’. The Guardian [online] 19th March. Available at: < http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/mar/19/ed-miliband-interview?INTCMP=SRCH>
Burch, M., Moran, M. (1987) ‘British Politics a Reader’. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Columbia University Press, 2011.Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. Available through: Business Source Premier database.
Heywood, A. (2007) ‘Politics’. 3rd Edition. New York: Palgrave foundation.
Jones, B., Kavanagh, D., Moran, M., Norton, P. (2001).” Politic UK.4th Edition. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Longman
Jones, B., Kavanagh, D., Moran, M., Norton, P. (2005) ‘Politics UK. 5th Edition. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Longman.
Kavanagh, D., Richards, D., Smith, M., Geddes, A. (2006). ‘British Politics’.5th Edition. London: Oxford University press.
Luo Rongqu, “Xiandaihua lilun yu lishi yanjiu” (Modernization theory and historical studies), Lishi yanjiu (Historical research) 8 (1996). Available through: Business Source Premier database.
Munck, R. (2009) ‘Globalisation and Migration’. New York: Routledge.
Orwell G (1938) ‘Homage to Catalonia. Secker and Warburg: London’. The Idea of Socialism: From 1968 to the Present-day Crisis. Available through: Business Source Premier database.
Redgrave, M. (2008) ‘Europeanising the National Interest: Tony Blair's and New Labour's Lost Objective’. Journal of Contemporary European Studies; Dec2008, Vol. 16 Issue 3, p421-432, 12p.Available though: Business Source Premier database.
Soros, G. (2002) ‘On Globalisation’. New York: Public Affairs.
Shaw, E. (1996) ‘The Labour party since 1945’. Blackwell.