Third Way And Social Democracy Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The Third Way can be best described as an alternative to the old left and right. Today, it focuses on what can be considered “the four Es”: education, ecology, ethics, and economics. As a political construct, the true meaning of the Third Way remains vague. It can imply an alternative to both capitalism and socialism; a middle way; or an alignment of new and heterodox ideas, such as the state as an enabler and not a direct provider of goods and services.

The term emerged at the end of the nineteenth century around Pope Pius XII. More recently, this expression conveys the ideas beyond the left or the right. It allows one to do certain things without bothering to find out about the “first way” or “second way.” Unlike socialism, it does not aim to end the predominance of the capitalist system, nor does it aim to replace it entirely. Instead, it aims to reform the capitalist system democratically through state regulation and ameliorating some of the injustices inherent in the market economy. Many consider the Third Way as the modern version of social democracy or democratic socialism that became popular in international politics in the late twentieth century.

Though it is difficult to demarcate social democracy clearly from democratic socialism, some view the emergence of social democracy as a shift from capitalism toward the left, and democratic socialism as a shift from Marxism toward the right. Most parties with leftist leanings, faith in democratic means, and strong base in the working class can be described as social democrats. The social democrats and labor parties advocate the socialist option through democratic means in all aspects of life: political, social, and economic. The cardinal principles of social democracy have been (1) freedom from discrimination and freedom from dependence, (2) economic and sociocultural equality and social justice, and (3) solidarity in the sense of compassion for the victims of injustice and inequality (e.g., the Socialist International’s Declaration of Principles).

Cardinal Principles

The Third Way now focuses on efforts to find a new interpretation of social democracy or democratic socialism to increase relevance in the globally integrated economy and knowledge based and technology-driven societies. This was necessitated by factors including growing individuation, inequities, social fragmentation, political apathy, rising consumerism, political violence, environmental degradation, private corruption by public authorities, alienation, and retreat of the welfare state. New interpretations require not a deterministic economy or polity but what is known as the freedom to maneuver. The Third Way emphasizes the role of the civic society, family, and communitarian values. Some believe that it can also have an adverse effect on the state’s autonomy.

It is not surprising that most social democratic parties have shifted their emphasis from social justice to human rights and cleaner environment. Whereas the issue of equity and social justice are primarily economic and distributive, those of green environment, peace, gender issues, and human rights are primarily political and nondistributive. The modern social democrats also tend to support multiculturalism, secularism, multilateralism, civil rights, and civil freedoms. Most of the social democrats have also broadened their objectives to include some of the liberal, neoliberal, and even conservative values. For instance, Purshottam Trikamdas, one of the democratic socialists from India holds: “Socialism is a living faith, not a dogma. It can be achieved only by a process of trial and error. It cannot be something given once for all.”

The Legacy

Many of the policies espoused by the social democrats in early twentieth century are now practiced in most of the advanced industrialized countries, such as nationalization, subsidized education, and health care. Sweden remains the prime example of social democracy under the leadership of Olof Palme. Norway, too, flourishes as a social democratic nation. Some of the Canadian provinces, such as Saskatchewan, Br itish Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia, are closer to modern version of the Third Way mould of social democracy.

The Third Way implies moving away from some of the traditional elements of social democracy by supporting partial privatization of public sector enterprises and services and reductions in the regulations of the market. Those advocating this perspective include Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Kevin Rudd in Australia; Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the United Kingdom; Gerhard Schröder in Germany; Jens Stoltenberg in Norway; Göran Persson in Sweden; David Lange, Roger Douglas in New Zealand; Wim Kok in the Netherlands; and Ricardo Lagos in Chile.

The Third Way involves the pragmatic adaptation of social democracy to the realities of the modern world. It was difficult for most of the social democratic parties to survive on the basis of postwar Bretton Woods consensus in the wake of rising consumerism and middle-class aspirations. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Labour Party was rejected four times consecutively between 1979 and 1992. Tony Blair and his supporters had to disassociate from the strong democratic socialists incarnations of their parties to fight the emergence of neoliberalism in the form of Thatcherism and Reaganomics. Many social democrats tolerated economic disparities as inevitable. Many other countries, without the tradition of social democracy, such as the United States, still have certain regulatory programs, such as Medicare, welfare, and environmental protection.

Surprisingly, both the right and the left criticized the social democrats. The right criticized them for restricting individual freedoms, regulating the market at the cost of economic efficiency, and promoting wider choice as a result of budget deficits and taxing the middle class more as the rich resorted to what some called “tax evasion through sophisticated accounting.” The left criticized the social democrats for being an obstacle to radical reforms. For instance, Tony Blair (UK), Gerhard Schröder (Germany), and Göran Persson (Sweden) were criticized for violating the principles of social justice and equity by implementing privatization of the welfare state and deregulation of the economy. Nevertheless, the social democrats succeeded in raising the living standards of the masses, increasing social mobility, enhancing the powers of the workers and the consumers, stabilizing the economy by providing social security, and eliminating extreme poverty.

Bibliography:

Carlsson, Ingvar, and Anne-Marie Lindgren. What Is Social Democracy? Stockholm: Arbetarrörelsens Tankesmedja/Idé och Tendens, 2007.
Glyn, Andrew, ed. Social Democracy in Neo-liberal Times:The Left and Economic Policy since 1980. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Halpern, David, and David Mikosz, eds. “The Third Way: Summary of the NEXUS on line discussion.” Nexus, 1998. www.netnexus.org/library/ papers/3way.html.
Trikamdas, Purshottam. Gaya Report. New Delhi: Praja Socialist Party of India, 1955.

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