This work provides a systematic assessment and evaluation of the modernization of the British Labour Party in light of its landslide victory in 1997. It also represents an attempt to locate Labour's modernization in terms of the distincitive political economy of contemporary British capitalism and the impact of globalization, the evolution and transformation of the British State in the post-war period, the legacy of Thatcherism, and the specifics of electoral strategy and competition in contemporary Britain.

This book focuses on cultural policy in the UK between 1997 and 2010 under the Labour party (or 'New Labour', as it was temporarily rebranded). It is based on interviews with major figures and examines a range of policy areas including the arts, creative industries, copyright, film policy, heritage, urban regeneration and regional policy.

The book provides a clear assessment of the New Labour governments in Britain, when Tony Blair then Gordon Brown were Prime Ministers between 1997 and 2009. This assessment is based upon a review of implemented public policies and their outcomes instead of programmes or discourses.

This book presents a detailed explanation of the essential elements that characterize capital labor relations and the resulting social conflict that leads to repression of labor. It links repression to the class struggle between capital and labor. The starting point involves an historical approach used to explore labor repression after the American Revolution. What follows is an examination of the role of government along with the growth of American capitalism to analyze capital-labor conflict. Subsequent chapters trace US history during the 19th century to discuss the question of the role assumed by the inclusion/exclusion of capital and labor in political-economic structures, which in turn lead to repression. Wholesale exclusion of labor from a fundamental role in framing policy in these institutions was crucial in understanding the unfolding of labor repression. Repression emerges amid a social struggle to acquire and maintain control over policy-making bodies, which pits the few against the many. In response, labor attempts to push back against institutional exclusion in part by the formation of labor unions. Capital reacts to such actions using repression to prevent labor from having a greater role in social institutions. For instance, this is played out inside the workplace as capital and labor engage in a political struggle over the function of the workplace. Given capital’s monopoly of ownership, capital employs various means to repress labor at work, including the introduction of technology, mass firings, crushing strikes, and the use of force to break up unions. The role of the state is not to be overlooked in its support of elite control over production, as well as aiding through legal means the growth of a capitalist economy in opposition to labor’s conception of greater economic democracy. This book explains how and why labor continues to confront repression in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In May 2005 the Labour Party led by Tony Blair won an unprecedented third term in power. After eight years in government its achievements were many. But there was controversy too, not least the decision to support the United States in the invasion of Iraq. The Blair government promised to be different both at home and abroad. New Labour would move social democratic politics on in the face of a rapidly changing world. It would also take British politics and policy-making beyond Thatcherism. But how successful has it been? In this second edition of the widely praised New Labour: Politics after Thatcherism, Stephen Driver and Luke Martell explore the origins of New Labour and examine in detail the Labour government's record in power. They argue that this record bears the imprint of the reforms to the British state and society made under successive Conservative administrations. At the same time, New Labour has taken British politics and public policy in directions that reflect the party's progressive, liberal and social democratic past. New Labour is post-Thatcherite. The completely revised second edition of New Labour contains: - An accessible and comprehensive account of New Labour politics - Up-to-date policy chapters on economic, social and constitutional affairs - A new chapter on European and foreign policies - An original and critical interpretation of New Labour and the future of social democratic politics in Britain, Europe and other parts of the world The second edition of New Labour will be an invaluable resource for students of politics, sociology and other social sciences, those involved in public policy and public affairs and anyone looking for an accessible guide to New Labour and the Blair government.

By looking at 20 reform efforts in ten OECD countries, this report examines why some reforms are implemented and other languish.