Although there is a growing body of international literature on the feminisation of politics and the policy process and, as New Labour's term of office progresses, a rapidly growing series of texts around New Labour's politics and policies, until now no one text has conducted an analysis of New Labour's politics and policies from a gendered perspective, despite the fact that New Labour have set themselves up to specifically address women's issues and attract women voters. This book fills that gap in an interesting and timely way.
Women and New Labour will be a valuable addition to both feminist and mainstream scholarship in the social sciences, particularly in political science, social policy and economics. Instead of focusing on traditionally feminist areas of politics and policy (such as violent crime against women) the authors opt to focus on three case study areas of mainstream policy (economic policy, foreign policy and welfare policy) from a gendered perspective. The analytical framework provided by the editors yields generalisable insights that will outlast New Labour's third term.
Rural policy has presented some of the most difficult and unexpected challenges to the New Labour government. From the Foot and Mouth crisis to the rise of the Countryside Alliance, from farm protests to concerns about rural crime, rural issues have frequently seized headlines and formed the basis of organized opposition to the government. Yet, the same government, elected with a record number of rural MPs, has also proactively sought to reform rural policy.
This book critically reviews and analyses the development and implementation of New Labour’s rural policies since 1997. It explores the factors shaping the evolution and form of New Labour’s rural agenda, and assesses the impact of specific policies. Contributions examine discursive restructuring of the rural policy agenda, the institutional reforms and effects of devolution, the key political debates and challenges around hunting, agricultural reform, Foot and Mouth, housing development and the ‘right to roam’, and review policy developments with respect to crime, social exclusion and employment in the countryside, rural community governance and national parks.
“New Labour’s Countryside” will be of interest to students of contemporary British politics and of rural studies, and to anyone involved in the government and politics of the countryside.
1 ONE New Labour and leadership Introduction The front page of the right-of-centre newspaper The Mail on Sunday on 10 November 1991 had the following headline, ‘Back to the blackboard’, with a story about how Kenneth Clarke, the then Education Secretary, planned ‘a radical overhaul of state primary schools’ (Lightfoot, 1991, p 1). The approach to be adopted was to return to whole-class teaching and subject-based learning. When New Labour took office in 1997, they said in Excellence in Schools (DfEE, 1997, p 10) that ‘in the 1996 national tests only 6 in 10
257 FIFTEEN Beyond New Labour’s countryside Michael Woods Introduction In a review of the impact on the British countryside of the policies of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, Cloke (1992) observed that “the Thatcher era has ushered in new ‘structured coherences’ in some rural localities” (p 292). The restructuring of state relations, Cloke noted, had limited the ability of government agencies to intervene in rural planning and development; the deregulation of planning and the privatisation of utility companies had created new opportunities for
New Labour and unequal neighbourhoods 115 SIx New labour and unequal neighbourhoods Anne Power introduction When New Labour came to power in 1997, there was great enthusiasm within government for tackling deprivation, particularly area concentrations of problems. There were several important reasons. First, the growth of inequality during Thatcher’s years had not been reversed (Chapter One). Second, social housing (still making up over a fifth of all homes) had become far poorer as a result of targeting access more systematically at the most deprived and
rebranded itself as ‘New Labour’. Much of this process began under Neil Kinnock, who assumed the leadership in 1983, including reforming the relationship between militant groups and branches of the trade union movement and the wider Labour Party. Central to Labour’s crisis was its relationship with the trade unions; the unions were blamed, both implicitly and explicitly, for Britain’s economic problems of the 1960s and 1970s (see the previous chapter) and their ties to the party, along with the ideological stances of some leaders were seen by modernisers as barriers to
New Labour has concentrated many of its social policy initiatives in reinvigorating the family, community and work in the paid labour market. But just how ‘new’ are the ideas driving New Labour’s policy and practice?
In this book, Simon Prideaux shows how New Labour has drawn on the ideas and premises of functionalism, which dominated British and American sociological thought during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
The book provides an accessible overview of the theories that underpin the policies of New Labour, including the often labyrinthine theories of Talcott Parsons, Amitai Etzioni and Anthony Giddens; examines the ideas of Charles Murray and John Macmurray, philosophers publicly admired by Tony Blair; looks at the sociological origin of debates and controversies that surround the provision of welfare in both the US and UK and considers the alienating effects that New Deal schemes may have in Britain today.
Not so New Labour’s innovative approach to the analysis of social policy under New Labour will be invaluable to academics, students and researchers in social policy, sociology, politics and applied social studies.
There are an increasing number of studies devoted to an examination of New Labour’s social policies. However, thus far there has been little in the way of substantive discussion of opposition to and conflict around key elements of New Labour’s agenda for the welfare state and public sector, from those who are involved in the frontline implementation and delivery of welfare policies. Since the mid to late 1990s, there have been continual and recurring episodes of industrial action of various kinds involving social workers, teachers, lecturers, nurses, hospital ancillary staff, nursery nurses, home helps and local authority librarians among others. Welfare delivery has become a central point of industrial relations disputes in the UK today.
This book provides the first critically informed discussion of work and workers in the UK welfare sector under New Labour. It examines the changing nature of work and explores the context of industrial relations across the welfare industry. While the main focus is on the workforce in state welfare, this is set within the context of recent and current shifts in the mixed economy of welfare between state, private and third sector organisations.
Lurid headlines on every aspect of migration have been a consistent feature of the last decade, from worries over asylum seekers to concerns about unprecedented economic immigration from Eastern Europe.
This book presents the first comprehensive account of government policy on immigration over the last ten years, providing an in-depth analysis of policy and legislation since Tony Blair and New Labour were first elected. The account begins by placing policy change under Labour in their proper historical context, before examining the key policy themes - economic migration; security; integration; asylum; delivery - of the last decade.
Through an analysis of such policy themes, the author contends that immigration policy has undergone an intense and innovative transformation in the period from May 1997 to May 2007. Arguing that a more plural system of governance exists, the author challenges traditional accounts of policy development. By addressing the various influences on immigration policymaking, from globalisation, the European Union and the law, to politics, the media and the networks of special interests, he seeks to provide a holistic explanation for the transformation of immigration policy. The author concludes with an evaluation of Labour’s immigration reforms, and whether government policy can be judged a success.
The book will be of interest to policymakers, academics, students studying immigration, and readers interested in serious current affairs.
