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Example research essay topic: British Prime Minister 20 Th Century - 2,513 words

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How did Tony Blair change the Labour Party during his time as Prime Minister? The aim of the paper is to consider and discuss the changes which Tony Blair has brought while being British prime-Minister. No one will argue that under his rule the Party has acquired considerable political success and has changed its policies and inner order. Thus, it is necessary to see both positive and negative (if any) changes for the Labour Party under Tony Blair. Introduction 'Since becoming party leader in 1994, Tony Blair had in effect re-launched the Labour Party. He ditched many of the policies he believed had made Labour unelectable in the past, including Labour's historic commitment to nationalisation.

He also weakened the party's links with the trade unions. ' (Rental 1999, p. 29) This is what we read and find in some of the literary sources researched for the aims of the present work. Hardly the press could criticize Blair too much, as he has really done much to make his Party politically successful. Though many state, that he has totally re-directed the party, having betrayed a portion of loyal supporters, what we have witnessed in the reality, was the re-construction of the party on the basis of the modern requirements in all spheres of the British life. It is interesting to read, how Mandelson & Liddle (2001) write about Blair and his influence on the changes which the Party has experienced under Blair's rule: ' The Blair project was not just an electoral strategy, it involved the total emasculation of the Labour party (and a new way of governing Britain). Give me power, Blair said to Labour, and I shall give you power. It was the greatest Faustian pact in modern politics with the new leader as Mephistopheles. ' (p. 99) If the expression is really correct and appropriate, we may assume that the so-called' power deal' between Blair and the Party worked for the benefit of all Blair, the Labour party and the common people; but let's come down to the more detailed discussion of the changes which took place in the party while Tony Blair was the Prime-Minister.

Tony Blair and the New Labour The history of the Labour party is the bright example of appearance and the development of the political party, which was required by the deep social moves and supported by the wide social layers. The elections' victory in 1997 has taken the party out of the continuous crisis, and the party has become the 'victim' of the social changes which took place among it electorate. One of the reasons of the low popularity of the Labour party was in the changing social structure of the society in the 2 nd half of the 20 th century. the non-qualified and half-qualified labor force, which had for years formed the basis of the Labour Party electorate, started to change.

The country was transiting from the industrial to the post-industrial way of economic development; the industries gave place to the sphere of service and high technologies. Before 1997 the so-called 'white collars' were not traditional supporters of the Labour Party, and no more than their one-third was usually choosing to vote for this very party. The decline in the number of non-qualified workforce was striking for the Party. They were losing their traditional support, a part of which gave their votes to the Tories, or to the third parties. The members of the Labour Party have faced with the problem, when the welfare of the common population of the working class was increasing.

Yes, this was the main aim of the Party, but it has also caused the changing values of the people, which had to be corresponded by the party policies. The social status, political views, material needs and the lifestyle were changing. The main achievement of the Labour Party in 1997 was the attraction of not only the traditional electorate, but also the new supporters, which were traditionally voting for other parties. Under Tony Blair the party has come down to the more market steps. What I mean here, is that they have kept to the adopted by the Conservatives the plans of the temporary freezing of the budget expenses and have kept the majority of the marketing elements in the national system of the healthcare, they have also decreased the corporate tax for the interests of the large capital, and have made the Bank of England absolutely independent.

Simultaneously, the have canceled the vouchers in the sphere of education and have gathered additional taxes from the extra profits of the privatized by the conservatives the 'natural monopolies'. (Marquand 2004, p. 27) The acquired 6 billion dollars have been directed at financing the program 'The New Contract', aimed at the unemployment decrease and especially among the youth. Due to this initiative, more than 200 thousand people at the age between 18 and 24 were able to become employed. In general, the number of unemployed has decreased by the year 2001 to 1 million people, which has become the best index since 1975. In 1999, Tony Blair has become the initiator of making the minimal wages equal to? 3 per hour for the workers between 18 and 21 years old, and? 3. 6 for those who were older, which has improved the welfare of about 2 million people. Another change, which happened in the labor Party under Tony Blair as Prime-Minister was that the country has joined to the social legislation of the European Union. The policy of the Labour party does not look eclectic, and is not represented by the mechanic number of measures of making both rich and poor feel better.

The number of reforms, especially constitutional ones, is subject to the grounded critic in their harness but the Labour party yet has time. The Party under Tony Blair has not returned to the recipes of Keynes and has neither become the supporter of Thatcherism with human face. The new Laborites have acknowledged the full value of market relations, but has made the special stress on the expansion of the indirect influence if the state in the economy. All budgets, represented by the Minister of Finances, Gordon brown, have acquired moderate redistributive character.

The new Laborites were able to find the harmonic combination of the unusual for the social democracy approaches, as low-deficit and low-inflation macroeconomic policy and the increase of expenses in the social sphere; they were able to keep the flexibility of the labor force market, as well as the broadening of the working people's rights. The economic policy of the Labour party under Tony Blair one speaks as of the post-Canes policy, its central idea being the idea of the knowledge-based economy'. The acknowledgement of the achievements of the Labour Party does not hide the fact that the party has come to the power during the period of the economic stability in Britain. The ways of developments, offered by Tony Blair, which ultimately worked for the inner changes I the general policy of the party, put a number of questions. The current economic cycle makes the economists surprised with the continuity and length of the economic rise. However, hardly one may be able to predict, what will be the consequences of Labour party's balancing between the low-deficit budget, liberal tax policies and the growing social payments, as well as long-term social programs if the state of economy becomes worse.

What will happen to the expensive social programs, declared by brown in 2001, if the fall in the economy happens? The Labour Party under Tony Blair has ceased to be traditionally socialist, having rejected the elimination of the market system in the economic relations; it has not become righter, but rather more left and more liberal; moreover, the traditions of the neo-liberalism has always been peculiar of this party. Tony Blair has many times expressed the regret about the short-term unity between Labour and the Liberal party at the beginning of the 20 th century, which has finally led to the domination of the conservatives at the political arena. At the beginning of the 21 st century this growing alliance may give, in Tony Blair's opinion, the far reaching consequences.

He is sure that this progressive alliance is able to push the Conservatives aside from the power for a long period of time. This is why both the Labour and the Liberal party suppose that the implementation of the proportional system of elections instead of majoritarian, would allow the liberals to increase their representation in the Parliament, simultaneously making their alliance with the Labour Party almost invincible. Accounting the dubious attitudes towards this alliance in both parties, its future is dependent on the will of their heads. However, it is too soon to suppose that the Labour Party is turning into the post-social-democratic. The rejection of the euro-social ideas and Keynes' ideas are not the basis for such assumption. The decrease of their influence is compensated by the higher activity of other left traditions, which are peculiar of British social democracy, as ethical and Christian socialism. 'Blair is as crafty as Harold Wilson, as shameless as David Lloyd George and as bourgeois as Ramsay MacDonald. ' (Patch & Leys 2001, p. 83) Such comparison does not make us think in different way it is no surprise that press tries to criticize the actions of the prime-Minister, who has accomplished astonishing thing, which is never denied his Labour party won the elections three times in a row, which is one of the brightest and the longest victories in the history of Britain.

Such long-term presence of the Labour part in the role of the political leader makes us think that Blair was really able to create serious changes not only inside the party, changing its general course, but also in the country through the political actions aimed at the growing welfare of the common population. However, far not all critics consider these changes to be absolutely positive. On the contrary, there are many of those, who suppose these changes to be absolutely negative for the party. As it has totally changed its political course with Tony Blair becoming its head and later the British Prime-Minister, some politicians and professional critics have come down with the thought that the fact that Blair had brought his party to the victory was done through the number of actions, absolutely contradicting to the traditional philosophy of the Labour party. 'Blair became the Labour leader in July of 1994, at the age of forty-one, projecting glamour, youth, freshness. His slogan was "modernization, " and he unofficially but definitely renamed his party "New Labour. " It may have looked more like a marketing strategy than a political philosophy, but it worked.

Within a year Labour was so far ahead in the polls that if (in the political commentators' illusory hypothesis) an election had been held then, the Tories would have suffered the kind of wipeout their Canadian counterparts experienced not long ago. ' (Wheatcroft 2004, p. 4) The fact of Labour party being the leading one due to the strictly an thoroughly developed strategy of winning the votes of British people, does not change the attitude of many towards the 'modernization' changes which the young Blair brought with his becoming the leader of the country. 'He took over a party all but terminally demoralized by endless defeat, presenting himself as the man who could make the party electable once more. What wasn't clear at first was that he meant to do so by utterly transforming the party, by uprooting its traditions, by effectively destroying Labour as it had been known since its beginnings. There had long been struggles between the left and the right of the party, between advanced socialists and cautious reformists, and some leaders were more radical than others. ' (Davis 2003, p. 19) It is interesting to read that the strivings of the Labour party towards its leadership were not only justified by the inner strivings of Tony Blair, but even by his actual hatred towards the party itself. (! ) It is even more surprising that some authors state and distort the expression which has become very popular for Blair, when he stated that he was not born with the party of Labour, but he has chosen it. The implications of that choice are used as the means of manipulations on the basis and in relation to the changes which Blair has brought with him when coming into the party and becoming its leader. So, what exactly were the major changes, which Tony Blair was able to accomplish while being the Prime Minister? We would better start with the period, when he has become the heads of the party, and not yet the Prime Minister we here come back to the year 1994.

No doubt, that Ton Blair is stated to be one of the most prominent leaders of his party, being the first one who kept to the policy of modernization. He was the first who didnt look into the past for the assistance in his future actions. 'he was determined not to be constricted by the old Labour culture and felt that change was now more necessary than ever since the traditional mass industrial techniques had given way to a lighter more service-oriented style of industry. The traditional working-class workforce had changed enormously and declined. ' (Anderson 1997, p. 77) Blair looked at the Conservative party as the force which was keeping to the opposition in relation to the role of state in regulating economic and work labor relations, while Tony Blair wanted to take the best changes the Conservatives were able to implement, simultaneously proving the public that their party was not going to raise the taxes and change the social policy of the state. The first symbol of the ongoing changes inside the Party under Tony Blair was the removal of the Clause Four. This elimination was looked at both negatively and positively, but it is understood that this was the first step towards the major changes expected inside the Labour party. Tony Blair appeared decisive and direct enough not to accomplish these changes, but also to make these changes work for the better of the whole nation.

The elimination of the Clause Four was the means of committing the Labour to the common ownership of the means of production. (Giddens 2003, p. 49) Not only Blair rejected this Clause, but he was also able to present his own interpretation of this Clause. His idea for the Party he was leading, was to make it work for the more dynamic economic development, which will ultimately lead to serving the public interests and in which ' the enterprise of the market and the rigour of competition are joined with the forces of partnership and co-operation with a thriving sector and high quality public services. ' (Blair 1996, p. 94) This Fourth Clause can be easily supposed to be the means of changing the general policy of the party, as it proclaimed the commitment of the party to...


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Research essay sample on British Prime Minister 20 Th Century

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