Third way (centrism)

This article is about the centrist political philosophy, for other uses, see Third way (disambiguation)

The Third Way is a centrist philosophy of governance that, at least from a traditional social democratic perspective, usually stands for deregulation, decentralization and lower taxes. It is embodied by such figures as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, former President of the United States Bill Clinton, former Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Wim Kok, former Australian Leader of the Opposition Mark Latham, Chile's Ricardo Lagos and Brazil's Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The "Third Way" of the United States Senate centrists, following Bill Clinton's lead, emphasize governmental fiscal conservatism, governmental action to replace welfare and other social assistance programs with so-called workfare, and a stronger preference for free markets. At the same time, such centrists seek to dissociate themselves from pure laissez-faire economics and other libertarian positions.

The general idea is included within radical middle.

Origins

The term (and a variant, Third Position) was first popularized by Benito Mussolini in the 1920s to describe Fascism, whose economic policy of corporatism was seen as a solution to the perceived twin failures of socialist attempts to develop a worker's planned economy and of laissez-faire capitalism. It has been argued by a minority of historians, like Mussolini biographer Nicholas Farrell, that some modern Third Way doctrines and policies, like the self proclaimed Third Way of Singapore's People's Action Party, the British Labour Party's public-private partnerships and Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society strongly resemble some of the economic and social policies of the Italian Fascists in the 20s and early 30s.

The Third Way philosophy was developed further, Post-War, in the 1950s by German ordoliberal economists such as Wilhelm Röpke, resulting in the development of the concept of the social market economy.

The term was appropriated by politicians in the 1990s who wished to incorporate Thatcher and Reagan's projects of economic deregulation, privatization, and globalization into the mainstream centre-left political parties (following the crisis of socialism after the fall of the Berlin Wall) so that in this context the Third Way is usually understood as a nickname for neoliberal social-economic policy. As such, it has become an important ideology in modern European democracies, especially by some Social-Democratic parties, as well as for some members of the United States Democratic Party (particularly, the Democratic Leadership Council). It gets its name from its alleged role as an alternative to both pure, free market capitalism and the kind of economic order represented by strong welfare states such as the Scandinavian countries and Germany, which are held to be too regulated and taxed at rates that are too high to compete with economies run on free-market principles. Former Australian Treasurer Paul Keating is often cited as a key proto-Third Way leader.

Historically, according to Robert Putnam in the book "Bowling Alone", the notion of building social capital, a theme popular with Third Way politicians like Latham and Blair, has a historical preceedent in the Progressive Era of the United States (defined as being after the Gilded Age, covering the years between the 1870s and 1920s). (Bowling Alone, pp. 367-401) Putnam writes that "During the years from 1870 to 1920 civic inventiveness reached a crescendo unmatched in American history, not merely in numbers, but in the range and durability of the newly founded organisations... investment in social capital was not an alternative to, but a prerequisite for, political mobilization and reform" (Putnam, pp. 384, 399). Putnam, along with other academics including Ian Winter (Latham cites Winter's "Social Capital and Public Policy in Australia" on p. 13 of the Latham diaries), and Mark Lyon are amongst a range of academics who have recently contributed key academic theory behind Third-Way politics.

Criticism

Third way is sometimes described as an idea of former social-democrats which replaces socialism with capitalism with a minimum of socialism, and a strategy to bring the social-democratic parties back to power where they have lost elections. Critics argue that third way politicians are in favour of ideas and policies that ultimately serve the interests of corporate power and the wealthy at the expense of the working class and the poor. Some also classify the Third Way as "neoliberalism with a social touch".

External links

The Third Way by Anthony Giddens (ISBN 0745622674), followed by The Third Way And Its Critics (ISBN 0745624502)
NEXUS Third Way Debate Summary
Why Tony is not a guitar-wielding facist dictator; The Guardian, July 1, 2003—about Mussolini and Blair.
Third Way Foundation
Sourcewatch.org entry on the Third Way Foundation
The Third Way - an Answer to Blair by Patrick Harrington

Politics

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Origins

Criticism

See also

External links