Position Paper: Critique of The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte

by Samuel Chapman
Central European University
Professor Andras Bozoki
Winter, 2!
"he annotated #riti$ue by %oanne Barkan of the The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte &oes after
va&ue, va#uous, and 'eak links in the manifesto( She #lamors for spe#ifi#ity, more e)amples and
so on, but she herself is often la#kin& substan#e in her rea#tions( *t is by nature of the #riti$ue +
that she is ,ust as va&ue and va#uous as the te)t she is attemptin& to disse#t( *n a 'ay this is
#hara#teristi# of #riti$ue, 'hether it be literary or in this #ase, ideolo&i#al #ontent( *t is often easy
to disse#t te)ts, espe#ially ideolo&i#ally based te)ts be#ause they take sides, the are assertive and
dra' lines in the sand( Without this form of #ommuni#ation politi#al ideolo&ies are 'ithout
value( So in this sense, 'hile there is merit to a fe' points mentioned in the mar&ins it doesn-t
a#tually do anythin&. it is an attempted e)e&esis of an ideolo&i#al te)t and at times borders
tautolo&i#al e)position(
/o'ever, the #riti#al attention to the manifesto is not entirely 'ithout substan#e( "he
intersti#es bet'een the manifesto and annotation are often but a matter of interpretation 'hi#h is
#ommon 'ith #omprehendin& rhetori# of a promoted ideolo&y( Barkan #alls out the va#uity of
the rhetori#, #allin& it &eneri# and at times revealin& the impli#it pretensions in phrases su#h as,
0We support a market e#onomy, not a market so#iety12234, to 'hi#h she asks 'hy pretend that
the t'o #an be neatly separated( At times it is but a matter of sub,e#tive interpretation, su#h as
the issue of distributive ,usti#e and the substantial e$uality of opportunity and out#ome( Essential
they are both talkin& about the same thin&, a pluralist approa#h to the institutional duty to make
sure distribution is ,ust 'here individuals only have a se#ondary responsibility( Blair and
S#hroeder are talkin& about responsibility, responsible spendin& and realisti# approa#hes to
#ompetition, employment and livin& standards( Althou&h they appear to disa&ree, both the #riti#
and the author are essentially talkin& about the same thin&(
Barkan refers to the S'edish model at least nine times, establishin& a polemi# a&ainst the
e)a&&erations of the "hird Way( She #omplains about analysis and des#ription, su#h as
fle)ibility and &lobalization( 5et as a manifesto * believe its &oal is not ne#essary to provide
analysis or outri&ht des#ription + as part of the ideolo&i#al messa&e it serves to &ive the illusion
that everythin& has indeed been des#ribed and either already been analyzed or in pro#ess( 6or
e)ample she atta#ks the sin&ular use of globalization and notes that there is no analysis any'here
in the do#ument( While she makes a##urate and effe#tive #riti#ism, su#h as the fa#t that
&lobalization is 0the #han&ed reality that supposedly makes old so#ial demo#ra#y inade$uate(4
But on#e a&ain, 'ith the rhetori# of the manifesto, the use of the 'ord is but a #at#h+phrase not
intended for s#rupulous analysis. it is but part of the pro#ess of #onne#tin& and #ommuni#atin&
'ith the publi# throu&h rhetori#( "his is the lifeblood of politi#al #ommuni#ation(
At times the #riti$ue fo#us on style, use of metaphor for e)ample(((4the state should not
ro' but steer4(((4isnt steering an important type of control-control of direction? While this
does nothin& for a more #omprehensive understandin& of the main themes she does offer positive
#ontributions su#h as her reply to the statement that the "hird Way 'ants a so#iety that
#elebrates su##essful entrepreneurs, artists, and footballers( Barkan is absolutely #orre#t to
$uestion this #omment, and offer the #elebration of su##essful tea#hers that 'ould move so#ial
demo#ra#y #loser to the kind of values they really 'ant( Another positive aspe#t of her #riti$ue is
that it attempts to establish a##ountability of the authors in terms of their stan#e on #onfli#t in the
'orkpla#e, promotion of small businesses, as 'ell as offerin& #onstru#tive #riti#ism re&ardin&
ta) reform, publi# 'orks and #orporate o'nership( But the #onstru#tive #riti#ism is limited to
posin& $uestions( Perhaps 'hat 'ould be more effe#tive 'ould be to offer path+dependen#y
analysis + re&ardless the publi#ation is apparently not meant to be an a#ademi# te)t but more of a
editorial ton&ue lashin& + she may have mentioned British reformist so#ialism, the revisionist
debates, or 6abian so#ialists and the 0inevitability of &radualness4 in terms of e#onomi# and
so#ial re&ulation( 5et at the same time the dilemmas of so#ialism are still evident and the "hird
Way manifesto serves to ans'er the issues of histori#al immobilism, #ombinin& so#ial o'nership
'ith market and demo#ra#y reform( And one more thin&, Blair and S#hroeder made sure to
in#lude the dis#laimer on the last pa&e, 0We are presentin& our ideas as an outline not a finalized
pro&ram,4 * am surprised Barkan did not #all this out in the mar&ins(