Theorizing the third way: New Labour and social justice

Abstract

This article seeks to identify distinctive core elements in the ideological standpoint of New Labour. Whilst accepting that New Labour has absorbed theoretical aspects of a number of centre-left traditions, it is argued that an interpretative reconstruction of the resulting ideological configuration reveals it to be a departure from those established traditions. A reading of John Rawls's liberal theory of justice is used as a means of characterizing New Labour's general ideological approach; the implications are then traced through to the policy level and a correspondence between Rawlsian liberalism and New Labour's agenda is established. On this basis, it is argued that New Labour has adopted a 'social liberal' position, emphasizing procedural fairness over distributive patterns, which can be viewed as a departure both from traditional 'social democracy' and from the 'neo-liberalism' of the recent right.