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Example research essay topic: Social And Economic Tony Blair - 2,510 words

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... the social justice, and equality of opportunities and the full employment. That was the beginning of the triumph. No matter, how negatively these changes may be looked at by the conservative supporters of the Labour Party Blair understood that the changes he was going to bring would finally lead the party to the top of political life in Britain.

Blair had performed a very intensive ride across the nation to assure the trade unions in the utility of the new Clause Four. The Transport and General Workers unions were the strongest of all which opposed to the adoption of the new clause. The April 1995 has displayed the ability of Blair to find agreement of the trade unions, as the two thirds of them supported the adoption of the new Clause Four. The changes, which Blair supposed were necessary, could briefly be expressed as follows: he wanted Britain modernized politically, economically and socially; thus without the changes in the party itself it would not be possible to bring the changes throughout the country. Simultaneously, in order to make these changes work, he had to carry and accompany his party to the top of elections, which also required major changes in the general party policy. 'New Labours approach was based upon five insights: the need for people to feel secure; investment, partnership and top-quality education for all; recognition of the potential of government; One Nation socialism going beyond the battles of the past between private and public interests; and the need to unite public and private activities in the ideal of social co-operation' (Draper 1997, p. 101) Thus, the changes which Blair brought into the Party while being the Prime-Minister could easily be divided into five different aspects, which we are here to discuss in more detail. Blair has made his slogan to be 'New Labour, New Britain', which meant that the changes in both the party and the country could not go separately and interacted and interrelated.

Changing the general philosophy of the party, Blair, on becoming the Prime-Minister in 1997, has first of all concentrated his efforts on coming into closer communication with the public for presentation of his interests and creation of the better image of the Labour party and its policies in particular. He has changed the orientation of the state in economic processes from being the provider to being an enabler, thus combining the marketing processes with the social economy. Blair was the first through the long period of British isolation, to re-orient its foreign policies towards Europe and the US. He decided to take active part in creating peace in Northern Ireland, and finally, he was sure the country urgently needed constitutional reform. Blair was finally able to realize all his strivings and ideas. First of all, he appeared to be a highly skilled communicator, though we have already seen it through the discussion of his debates with the trade unions in relation to the Clause Four' adoption.

He has changed the philosophy of his party, making it directed at the alliance of the private sector and the social need. (Freeden 1999, p. 55) He was not going to keep the welfare of the country unchanged, as Conservatives tended to; he was rather inclined at radical changes of the way this welfare was formed and distributed. He was looking for the ways of restoring the core values of this welfare and their application to the modern world with its modern requirements. What he meant that the state had to become the enabler meant that the state had to play the role of the assistance for people in the realization of their opportunities and capabilities. ' The main opposing voice has been Roy Hattersley, the former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, who, as early as July 1997, was declaring his lack of commitment to New Labour because of its desertion of policies to deal with the poor and its blatant ignoring of the need to redistribute wealth in order to move toward equality. ' (Labour 2000, p. 38) One of the contradictory changes which Blair wanted to fulfill was the change of the foreign directions of the party. Conservatives were keeping their leadership for many years due to the fact that they agreed with the majority of the British in their wish to go with isolation from the rest of Europe, not only geographical, but economical, political and social. The course chosen by Blair, directed at total changing the philosophy of the part and the country as a whole, made it real to commit Britain to the striving for joining the European Community, as well as close cooperation with the United States. 'In government it has followed through that commitment, recognizing that the European Economic Community is responsible for half of British exports and is responsible for guaranteeing around three million jobs in Britain'. (Davis 2003, p. 14) This change of the Labour party may be viewed as dubious; it was in fact realized through the active protests of the British community. The most evident display of this opposition was through the rejection of Euro as the currency across the nation.

However, Blair was wise not to go against the beliefs and wishes of his society, and acting towards Europe, refused to adopt euro. This refusal was short-term (for the five years) but it worked as the force of keeping him as the most efficient leader of the country through the recent 10 years. Much has also been written in relation to the change of the general party ideology. What is meant here, is that according to some literary sources, the party has moved to the right (what has already been mentioned in this work); on the other hand, and other literary sources state, that the party has turned from the left into the centric. In Wheatcroft (2004) we read, that 'after the new Laborites have come to rule the Labour party, it has absolutely lost its social and democratic character. despite the fact that the members of the Labour party have come to power with the slogan of fighting against the market fundamentalism, in the social and economic spheres the new government has only accepted the so called 'surface repair' and the revision of the basic values of British Labourism has occurred. ' It is interesting to see, that this process can hardly be called irreversible.

The opponents of the existing ideas and directions of the Labour party are sure that the course will immediately be changed as soon as the leader of the party is replaced by someone else; but in the light of the effective results of the Labour party's course and its positive influence on the British economy, it is difficult to accept the idea that the changes which occurred in the party while Blair was the Prime Minister were inappropriate. The main ideas against the changes in the party are merely connected with the changes of the ideology as a whole, but I imagine that with the time setting its requirements towards each sphere of human life, hardly any party would be able to keep to the stable course through years. The representatives of the Labour party appeared to be 'lucky' to apply the notions of the new economic and political ideology and use it for their own benefit. The social and economic as well as political modernization, based on the ideology of the free market, has lost its relevance by the middle of the previous century, and thus the Labour party appeared to be the one to account the mistakes of the previous regime and to continue the modernization of the state according to the amended course.

Blair was brave enough as to start the reformation of the election system of the country; he clearly understood that this change will both work for the party and for the country in the following way: the elections will become more objective, while the preferences of people towards the Labour party will be fully expressed through their votes. (Mandelson & Liddle 2001, p. 26) 'British politics is entering a period of perplexity. The Conservatives are led by a man as desperate not to be outflanked on his left as Blair has been desperate not to be outflanked on his right. Without denting the Thatcherite consensus, Cameron is colonizing the centre ground as assiduously as Harold Macmillan did in the 1950 s, in competition with the Liberal Democrats under Sir Menzies Campbell. In 10 or 20 years this must leave a substantial part of Britains electorate disenfranchised. They will be the elderly without protected public sector pensions, people dependent on a welfare state that cannot afford a soaring health and social services bill. They will be the 19 th century's unthrifty and undeserving poor, an underclass reliant in part on their children and on charity.

They will be the second-generation immigrants, the poor whites of the inner suburban ring, and the graduates of sink community schools so derided last week. ' (Freeden 1999, p. 56) The new term of 'Blatcherism' has appeared not long after Blair's becoming Prime-Minister. This only term could witness the fact that the period of major changes in the party had started. It was crucial for the party not to lose its will, power and commitment to the British people, to start this period of reforms. Blair clearly understood that the changes had to start from within the party, and then be brought to the surface.

On the other hand, despite the ardent criticism of the fact, that Blair came to the party when it was desperate for the continuous defeat and the inability to achieve success on the political arena for many years, made the members of the party full of illusions in relation to what Blair could accomplish. I would rather disagree with this opinion, as the mere fact that Blair was able to carry the party from the bottom of desperation to the political success through the three election campaigns, tells much. Though we are better to concentrate on the changes themselves, and not on their evaluation, but I guess it is valuable and important to see the contradictions, which exist in the society in relation to these changes. It is essential to understand not only the consequences of these changes, but their relative importance and the causes of these changes.

Blair has totally changed the total structure of the political ideology of his party. What Blair was able to do is often called Blair's revolution. The changes he brought to the party are really revolutionary. The main implementation or contribution was not the definition of the strict course, but rather the flexibility of this course on the basis of the changing requirements of the present time. Everything changes, each sphere of our life experiences drastic changes with the development of communication and technologies. The change in the general structure of not only economy, but social and political life in Britain made Blair understand that he could use these changes to create the New Labour party the way it is now.

Conclusion The aim of the work was to distinguish, discuss and evaluate the changes which the Labour party has experienced during the time Tony Blair was the British Prime-Minister. The changes have touched both the inner ideology of the party, as well as the policies which the party exercised to improve the welfare of the British people. The changes inside the party were as follows: The elimination and the adoption of the new Clause Four; The change of the redistribution policy to the policy of applying the core values of the welfare on the basis of the modern society requirements; The change of the left political orientation to the more centric one; The development of the society with the state being the enabler, and not the provider; More open communication with the trade unions as the basic electorate of the new Labour; New ideology aimed at creating strong foreign ties with European countries and the US, with the moderate accepting of the euro-course, accounting the active position of the British community. Despite the active criticism of the Blair's actions, it appears that he was able to bring his party to the continuous period of the political success through the adoption of the flexible political course. Understanding the requirements of the modern British society, he has absolutely changed the 'inner mentality' of the party, making it understandable and acceptable by the public, and thus guaranteeing its political success.

Annotated bibliography Anderson, P. and Mann, N. Safety first: The Making of the New Labour. London: Granta, 1997. The work is used here for the support of the debate, that not only Blair brought the necessary changes into his party, but has also used them for the benefit of its political ambitions.

Blair, T. New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country. London: Fourth estate, 1996. The book is written by Tony Blair himself and is interesting here for the understanding of his political strivings at the beginning of his Labour party career. Davis, Stephen. 'The Civil Economy'. The Political Economy Issue (2003): 12 - 22.

The article is devoted to the discussion of the economic part of the new Labour's tragedy. Draper, D. Blair's' Hundred Days. London: Faber & Faber, 1997. It has already been understood after the first hundred days of Blair being the Prime-Minister that he was going to accomplish serious changes in the Party and in the country.

This work concentrates on the discussion of this aspect. Freeden, Michael. 'The Ideology of New Labour'. The Political Quarterly 70 (1999): 50 - 56. General principles of the ideology, implemented by Blair. Giddens, A. The Progressive Manifesto.

Polity Press, 2003. The detailed discussion of the ideological changes brought into the party by Tony Blair. Labour, K. A Century of Labour. A History of the Labour Party.

Stroud: Sutton, 2000. The history of the Labour Party is important here to consider the changes done under Blair. Mandelson, P. & Liddle, R. The Blair Revolution.

Can New Labour Deliver? London: Faber & Faber, 2001. The term of 'Blair Revolution' was used in this work and was taken from this book, which supports that the changes Blair brought into the party were revolutionary. Marquand, David.

Decline of the Public. Polity Press, 2004. The New Labour was able to win the general re-structuring of the British society this is the main thesis of the book. Patch, L. & Leys, S. The End of the Parliamentary Socialism.

London: Verso, 2001. As the New Labour ideas are supposed to be the transition from the parliamentary socialism to a new form of ideology, this book was useful to support this idea. Rental, J. Tony Blair. London: Warner, 1999.

The biography and discussion of the main Blair's achievements as a political leader. Wheatcroft, G. 'The Paradoxical Case of Tony Blair: 'The Great Passion of His Life is his Hatred of the Labour Party'. The Atlantic Monthly 277 (2004): 2 - 6. The only work which argues that Blair was useful for his party.


Free research essays on topics related to: trade unions, social and economic, prime minister, tony blair, labour party

Research essay sample on Social And Economic Tony Blair

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