Third Way (centrism)

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This article is about a political philosophy; for other uses, see Third way (disambiguation).

The Third Way, or Radical Middle, is a centrist philosophy of governance that embraces a mix of market and interventionist philosophies. The Third Way rejects both top-down redistribution and laissez-faire approaches to economic governance, but chiefly stresses technological development, education, and competitive mechanisms to pursue economic progress and governmental objectives.[1]

Past invocations of a political 'third way' have included the Fabian Socialism, Keynesian economics, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Italian fascism and Harold Macmillan's 1950s One Nation Conservatism.[2]

Recent political leaders who have been said to have pursued Third Way policies include Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, Ségolène Royal of France, Romano Prodi of Italy, Bill Clinton of the United States, Gerhard Schröder of Germany, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain, Jean Chrétien of Canada, Wim Kok of the Netherlands, and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil.

1 Origins
2 Examples
3 Criticism
4 See also
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Origins

Some Third Way ideas have historical roots in the Progressive Era of the United States, like the notion of building social capital.^[1] The use of the term extends back at least as far, to when Pope Pius XII called for a Third Way between Socialism and Capitalism at the end of the 1800s.[3]

The Third Way philosophy was developed 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 later used by politicians in the 1990s who wished to incorporate Margaret Thatcher and Ronald 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).

A leading defender of the spread of Third Way influence in modern democracies has been British sociologist Anthony Giddens. Giddens regularly expounds on Third Way philosophy through contributions to progressive policy think tank Policy Network. Robert Putnam, 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.

[edit] Examples

The Third Way is currently prominent in Europe, but has adherents in the Americas and Asia. It is endorsed by some European social democratic parties, as well as by some members of the Democratic Party of the United States (see below). Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating is often cited as a key proto-Third Way leader.

[edit] United States

In the United States, Third Way adherents emphasize fiscal conservatism, some replacement of welfare with workfare, and a stronger preference for market solutions to traditional problems (as in pollution markets), while rejecting pure laissez-faire economics and other libertarian positions. The Third Way style of governing was firmly adopted and partly redefined during the Administration of President Bill Clinton.^[2] After Tony Blair came to power in the UK Clinton, Blair and other leading Third Way adherants organised conferences to promote the Third Way in 1997 at Chequers in England.^[3] ^[4] The Democratic Leadership Council is an adherent of Third Way politics.^[5]

In 2004, several veteran U.S. Democrats founded a new Washington, DC organization entitled Third Way, which bills itself as a "strategy center for progressives."^[6]

[edit] United Kingdom

Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom is cited as a Third Way politican.^[7] ^[8] Blair is a particular follower of the ideas of Anthony Giddens.^[9]

[edit] Other

Other leaders who have adopted elements of the Third Way style of governance include Gerhard Schröder of Germany.^[10]

[edit] 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. For example, Slavoj Zizek argues that the notion of the Third Way emerged as only alternative to the victorious global capitalism and its notion of liberal democracy when the Second Way crumbled.^[11] 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 neosocialism or "neoliberalism with a social touch". [4] [5]

[edit] See also

This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. Other related articles can be found at the Politics Portal.