Justifying New Labour Policy

Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Introduction......Page 14
The methodologies employed in current analyses of political discourse......Page 15
The structure of the book......Page 21
The political concept and its constituents......Page 26
The configuration of concepts, or ideology......Page 30
The process of decontestation......Page 32
Essential and effective contestability......Page 34
Some objections to Freeden’s approach......Page 40
The three major traditions of Western moral philosophy......Page 43
The use of consequentialist reasoning in political argument......Page 46
How deontological arguments are employed in politics......Page 49
How virtue theory is used in the justification of policy......Page 54
Conclusion......Page 60
The key concepts of discourse theory......Page 62
The dynamics of hegemonic competition and ‘wars of position’......Page 67
The social imaginary and its institutionalization......Page 73
Moral argument and hegemonic politics......Page 78
Conclusion......Page 80
The theoretical framework......Page 82
The methodological implications of the framework......Page 85
Conclusion......Page 90
The underlying assumptions of the Third Way......Page 94
The morphology of New Labour’s ideological platform......Page 96
New Labour’s success as a hegemonic project......Page 104
Conclusion......Page 110
6 New Labour’s Welfare Reforms: The New Deals......Page 112
New Labour’s welfare to work policies......Page 113
The compatibility of the New Deals and their supporting arguments with New Labour’s ideological commitments......Page 116
The moral arguments used to promote the New Deals......Page 119
New Labour’s tactics for securing hegemonic advantage......Page 122
Conclusion......Page 129
7 Rights and Constitutional Reform: The Human Rights Act of 1998......Page 131
The Human Rights Act of 1998......Page 132
The compatibility of New Labour’s arguments in favour of the Human Rights Act with its ideological platform......Page 135
The moral arguments used to win support for the incorporation of the ECHR into UK law......Page 138
New Labour’s strategy for achieving hegemonic advantage......Page 142
Conclusion......Page 149
8 Community: New Labour’s Policies on Anti-Social Behaviour......Page 151
New Labour’s strategy for tackling anti-social behaviour......Page 152
The compatibility of New Labour’s case for its anti-social behaviour agenda with its ideological commitments......Page 154
New Labour’s moral arguments in support of its anti-social behaviour policies......Page 158
New Labour’s tactics for securing hegemonic advantage......Page 161
Conclusion......Page 168
9 Foreign Policy: The Iraq War of 2003......Page 170
New Labour’s case for the war on Iraq......Page 171
The compatibility of New Labour’s arguments for the Iraq War with its ideological platform......Page 174
New Labour’s moral arguments in support of the Iraq War......Page 177
New Labour’s strategies for winning hegemonic advantage......Page 180
Conclusion......Page 187
The moral arguments employed by the Blair governments......Page 189
The argumentative strategies of Gordon Brown’s government......Page 192
Notes......Page 202
Bibliography......Page 209
Index......Page 224