Taking as its starting-point Anthony Downs' seminal work, An Economic Theory of Democracy, this book draws upon insights generated within economics, political psychology, and the study of rhetoric to examine the way in which New Labour achieved and maintained its electoral hegemony from 1994. Journalists and politicians routinely attribute New Labour's electoral success to its occupation of the 'centre-ground'. This book is interested in the question of how New Labour moved to the right and towards the centre. The obvious answer to this question is that New Labour moved by changing its policies. Against this, the book contends that changes in policy cannot in themselves constitute a complete explanation of changes in spatial position. They cannot do so because there is no pre-given and fixed relationship between policies and position such that the rejection of one policy and the adoption of another moves a party from one position to another. Policies are not immutably left-wing, right-wing, or centrist and so, given that the position a party is thought to occupy is a function of the policies to which it is committed, parties are not immutably left-wing, right-wing, or centrist either. The relationship between policy and position and thereby between parties and position is constructed and is in part constructed by parties themselves. New Labour did not simply move to the centre. It had to persuade the media, voters, and other parties that it had moved to the centre. New Labour achieved and maintained its electoral hegemony not simply by changing one set of policies for another. It achieved and maintained its hegemony by successfully constructing its policies as centrist.
Author(s): Andrew Hindmoor
Edition: illustrated edition
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Year: 2005
Language: English
Commentary: 38851
Pages: 233
Contents......Page 12
Preface......Page 8
List of Figures and Tables......Page 14
New Labour at the Centre......Page 16
Downs and An Economic Theory of Democracy......Page 20
Constructing the Centre......Page 21
The Difference Construction Makes......Page 27
Introduction......Page 32
The Median Voter Theorem......Page 34
Downsian Space......Page 41
The Construction of the Centre......Page 48
Conclusion......Page 54
Introduction......Page 56
Rhetorical Forms......Page 58
Rhetoric, Beliefs, and the Construction of the Centre......Page 64
The Limits of Construction......Page 69
Conclusion......Page 74
Introduction......Page 78
Devolution......Page 80
The Minimum Wage......Page 85
Trade Union Recognition......Page 88
The 2002 Budget......Page 92
Conclusion......Page 96
Introduction......Page 98
Schumpeter: Innovation and Equilibrium......Page 99
Downs: Innovation and Equilibrium......Page 105
Innovation, Rhetoric, and Spatial Competition......Page 112
Conclusion......Page 118
Introduction......Page 120
The New Deal......Page 123
Education Action Zones......Page 127
The Working Families Tax Credit......Page 130
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders......Page 133
Foundation Hospitals......Page 136
Conclusion......Page 139
Introduction......Page 142
Frames, Framing, and Priming......Page 145
Framing and the Construction of the Centre......Page 151
Framing Issues and Framing Dimensions......Page 155
Conclusion......Page 160
Introduction......Page 162
Framing (Valence) Issues: Europe, Tax and Spend, and Ownership......Page 163
Framing Events: Arms and Petrol......Page 170
Framing the Campaign: Issues and Dimensions......Page 175
Conclusion......Page 182
Introduction......Page 184
Principals and Agents: Incentives......Page 186
Principals and Agents: Screening......Page 191
Leadership, Reliability, and Responsibility......Page 194
The Construction of Reliability and Responsibility......Page 196
Conclusion......Page 199
Introduction......Page 202
The British Presidency......Page 203
Blair as Ballast: The 1997 Election......Page 208
The Politics of Promises 1997–2001......Page 213
Conclusion......Page 215
11. Conclusion......Page 218
B......Page 226
C......Page 227
G......Page 228
L......Page 229
N......Page 230
R......Page 231
V......Page 232
W......Page 233
