| What was the third way developed in response to? | In response to the crisis faced by social democracy in the 1980s and 90s |
| What did the third way attempt to navigate between? | traditional social democracy and free-market neoliberalism. |
| What are the five key ideas of the third way? | The primacy of the market, society bases on consensus and harmony, Social inclusion, competition/market state and value of community and moral responsibility |
| What is Primacy of the market? | Neo-revisionists reject top-down state intervention and support a dynamic market economy as the best way of generating wealth. A globalised, capitalist economy is therefore accepted
Value of community and moral responsibility: |
| What is society bases on consensus and harmony | to move away from traditional class divisions. Values such as fairness and self-reliance should be promoted |
| What is Social inclusion? | emphasis on equality of opportunity to create a meritocracy. Tony Blair, a key figure associated with the third way, suggested that welfare should be a ‘hand up, not a handout’. Welfare should therefore be more specifically targeted at getting people into work, for instance |
| What is Competition/market state? | the state should focus on social investment, for instance in education, employment and training, in order to boost economic growth and improve a nation’s standing in the world economy |
| What is the value of community and moral responsibility? | emphasising that people have moral links and responsibilities to their community, attempting to balance rights with responsibilities |
| How has the third way been successful? | The third way was electorally successful during the New Labour years and has influences many left-of-centre parties. |
| How has the third way been criticised in the UK? | it has been criticised as not containing many socialist ideas, and just being an attempt to win more votes from ‘centre-ground’ voters. |
| What is a key aspect of the third way? | notion of stakeholding. The term seeks to move beyond the narrow concerns of shareholders and the belief that the profit motive should be the only legitimate concern of the private sector. |
