New Labour in the Global Economy: Partisan Politics and the Social Democratic Model

In: The British journal of politics & international relations, Band 2, Heft 1, S. 1-25

Abstract

Drawing on a framework developed by Geoffrey Garrett in his recent book Partisan Politics in the Global Economy, I examine the "policy space" that is available for the social democratic project in the UK. Garrett is optimistic about the possibilities for reformism: he emphasizes the ability of an "encompassing" labor movement to exchange wage restraint for reformist policies. Given the absence of such an encompassing labor movement in the UK, his conclusion apparently offers little support to those seeking reformist measures in these circumstances. I discuss three reasons why Garrett's model may still be applicable in the British context. First, social democrats may be able to offer policies desirable to capital. Second, wage moderation may be possible without the existence of an encompassing labor movement. Third, & most ambitious, it may be possible to develop an encompassing labor movement within the UK. My tentative conclusion is that a variant of the Garrett model is potentially a plausible one for a reformist party in the UK. 2 Tables, 50 References. Adapted from the source document.