In this volume Stephen Driver and Luke Martell argue that Tony Blair's government has taken politics and policy-making beyond Thatcherism. This study of Labour's first term in power for two decades challenges the view that New Labour has thrown in the towel to Thatcherite neo-liberalism.

The authors explore how social democrats and progressive politicians across Europe in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, as well as the United States, have responded to the challenges of globalization and social change - and examine the comparative politics of social democracy across Europe and the rest of the world today. This book is the most comprehensive survey of New Labour yet to appear, and will be read by students of politics and sociology as well as being accessible to the general reader. .

PrefacePart I After Thatcherism1 19972 Labour in Power 1997-2001Part II Rethinking Social Democracy3 New Labour's third way4 The third way beyond Britain5 New Labour, third ways and globalisationPart Three New Labour, New Britiain6 Blair and Britishness7 The New United Kingdom: Reshaping the constitutution8 Ending Welfare as we know it??9 New Labour, work and the familyConclusion: After Thatcherism: BlairismBibliography Index