>
>
>N e w s f r o m C a t a l y s t
>1 5 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 3
>
>Included in this mailing:
>1. A DEEPER DEMOCRACY - new Catalyst pamphlet by Angela Eagle MP
>----------------------------------------------------------
>1.
>A DEEPER DEMOCRACY - CHALLENGING MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM
>By Angela Eagle MP
>
>This week Catalyst publishes an important new pamphlet by former minister
>Angela Eagle which argues that Labour needs to develop radical democratic
>alternatives to the market if it is to effect a lasting social
>transformation in Britain.
>
>Angela Eagle, who served as a minister from 1997 until 2002 and is a founder
>of the recently launched "New Wave" group of Labour MPs, argues that despite
>many achievements the government has yet to break decisively with a market
>ideology that remains entrenched in our political life and public
>institutions. The "accomodationist" doctrine of the Third Way has failed to
>generate a real alternative reform agenda, as illustrated by the
>government's market-based politicies for Foundation Hospitals and variable
>university tuition fees.
>
>The pamphlet calls on Labour to abandon its "top down" approach to party
>discipline and social intervention, and experiment with more radical forms
>of popular participation in policymaking and implementation. Drawing lessons
>from the "participatory budgets" of the Workers' Party in Brazil and her own
>involvment with community regneration programmes at the Department of the
>Environment, Eagle argues that sustainable social and political change will
>only be brought about by a permanent deepening of democracy that engages
>with the complex and dispersed nature of social power today.
>
>The pamphlet concludes:
>
> "New organisational models, new policy solutions and new delivery
>mechanisms have the potential to reinvigorate the Labour Party and
>dcemocratic politics in general. Once established, these positive feedback
>systems could increase vastly the engagement of the electorate and the
>effectiveness of the policies pursued by government. This would be a much
>more profound break with command and control than that offered by the
>mistaken introduction of quasi-markets into public services."
>
>
>An Executive Summary follows. The pamphlet is being sent to Catalyst
>subscribers and can be ordered from Central Books (020 8986 4854), price #5.
>More information is at http://www.catalystforum.org.uk/pubs/paper21.html.
>
>Angela Eagle wants to hear from people with responses to her arguments and
>ideas - join the debate at http://www.newwavelabour.co.uk.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
>A deeper democracy
>Challenging market fundamentalism
>By Angela Eagle MP
>
>EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
>
>1. Introduction
>
> - Despite many achievements in office, there is a widespread sense among
>Labour's supporters that it has yet to fulfil the promise of social
>transformation implicit in its May 1997 landslide.
>
>2. The Thatcherite legacy
>
> - 18 years in power allowed the Conservatives to entrench their market
>fundamentalist ideology throughout British political life. Labour's lasting
>success requires that it be displaced.
>
>3. New Labour's political style
>
> - New Labour was shaped by its years in opposition. While its defensive
>and accommodationist approach may have helped it back to power, it is
>insufficient for effecting a radical transformation of Britain.
> - Methods of centralisation and discipline, deliberate confrontation with
>the party, and a retail model of political positioning and communication,
>have outlived their usefulness and are now becoming counterproductive.
>
>4. New Labour's triangulations
>
> - The simple tactic of splitting the difference between political
>alternatives to attract maximum floating voter support precludes a more
>strategic vision of real political possibilities and opportunities.
> - New Labour has made unnecessary concessions to the conservatism of the
>tabloid media and its Third Way rhetoric denigrates a caricature of social
>democracy while failing to challenge market fundamentalism.
>
>5. Escaping the old dogmas
>
> - Our thinking is still constrained by simplistic economic models and a
>mechanical view of the role of the state in effecting social change.
> - We need to move to an understanding of society as a complex and
>unpredictable web of networks whose members are influenced by each other's
>behaviour.
>
>6. Beyond the market mechanism
>
> - Our goal must be one of deepening democracy, achieving "bottom-up"
>social and political change that mobilises the experience and commitment of
>activists and citizens.
> - Experiments in participatory budgeting show how the active involvement
>of voters in informed debate and deliberation can produce better decisions
>and socially progressive outcomes.
> - Similarly, regeneration programmes have more legitimacy and lasting
>effect if their direction and administration is in the hands of the
>communities on their receiving end.
> - The renewal of the public sector must go forward on the basis of worker
>and user empowerment within a public service ethos, not the further
>extension of market mechanisms and business models of organisation.
> - We need a vibrant democracy in the Labour Party that values and utilises
>the perspectives of the membership and the trade unions and uses innovative
>organisational methods facilitated by modern communications.
> - Society is becoming more fluid and relationships and living arrangements
>more diverse. Public policy needs to recognise and engage with this new
>reality if it is to be effective.
> - The grip of market fundamentalism on the institutions of global economic
>governance needs to be loosened, and replaced with principles of
>international fairness, transparency, and real democratic accountability.
>
>7. Conclusion
>
> - Our aim must be to take this debate forward in the most constructive and
>inclusive way possible. It is on this basis that we will be able to turn a
>good Labour government into a great one.
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>
>'A deeper democracy
>Challenging market fundamentalism'
>By Angela Eagle MP
>
>A Catalyst Working Paper
>Published in December 2003
>
>ISBN 1 904508 09 x
>52 pp
>Price #5
>http://www.catalystforum.org.uk/pubs/paper21.html
>http://www.newwavelabour.co.uk/policypub1.html
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
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