Obituarios a la "tercera vía" (2)

Artículo publicado en La República, domingo 16 de mayo de 2010

Con el triunfo del Partido Conservador en las recientes elecciones en el Reino Unido se hacen diversos obituarios a la “tercera vía”, las políticas que siguió el laborismo durante los gobiernos de Tony Blair (1997-2007) y Gordon Brown (2007-2010), que se presentaban como alternativos tanto al “viejo laborismo” como a las políticas neoliberales impulsadas por Margaret Thatcher (primera ministra entre 1979 y 1990). La tercera vía tenía como postulados centrales la promoción del crecimiento económico mediante mecanismos de mercado, como base para las políticas de integración social (que deben ser eficientes y basadas no solo en un enfoque de derechos, también de responsabilidades); y la propuesta de asumir desde una perspectiva de izquierda los temas tradicionales de la derecha (el respeto a la ley y la preservación del orden, el combate al terrorismo, las políticas de inmigración, por ejemplo). Estos dos elementos se relacionan con la crisis del laborismo: lo segundo terminó en una política exterior dependiente de los Estados Unidos, que se expresó en el apoyo a la invasión a Irak; lo primero terminó en la desregulación de los mercados financieros, que luego generaron la crisis global de los últimos años. De allí que, paradójicamente, es precisamente cuando se habla de la necesidad de una mayor regulación estatal frente a las tendencias autodestructivas de un mercado librado a su propia dinámica, que la derecha se ha fortalecido.

Me parece importante preguntarnos si lo que se ha enterrado es una experiencia de gobierno laborista, que cometió errores específicos, o si lo que está en cuestión es la filosofía que la inspiró. Si pensamos lo primero, seguiría vigente la aspiración a encontrar un terreno intermedio entre las políticas que privilegian la intervención del Estado como solución a los problemas económicos y sociales, y las que privilegian el funcionamiento autónomo de los mercados y la confianza en que la lógica de la competencia es que a la larga conduce al bienestar social. Si pensamos lo segundo, solo sería viable postular políticas estatistas de izquierda o políticas liberales, y la vía socialdemócrata sería una ilusión que escondería o el viejo izquierdismo de siempre o una cooptación por parte del neoliberalismo.

En América, a diferencia de muchos países de Europa, el sentido común socialdemócrata parece tener mayor vigencia en la actualidad. La reforma al sistema de salud recientemente aprobada en los Estados Unidos bajo la presidencia de Obama podría entenderse bajo estos parámetros; y la gestión de presidentes como Lula o Tabaré Vásquez (y los de los presidentes de la Concertación en Chile) siguen siendo percibidos como alternativas viables y deseables para una cantidad importante de electores. Me atrevería a decir que también en nuestro país, pero, para variar, el problema es que no tenemos actores políticos, partidos que encarnen bien esas ideas.

Ver también:

BBC News Election 2010 Results
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/

New Labour is very alive
Prudence to profligacy is a big change, no doubt. But the crucial themes of the third way are intact
Anthony Giddens The Guardian, Monday 1 December 2008
http://www.newstatesman.com/200406070017

Anthony Giddens: It's time to give the Third Way a second chance
Securing greater social justice depends on a strong economy, not the other way round
Thursday, 28 June 2007
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/anthony-giddens-its-time-to-give-the-third-way-a-second-chance-454966.html

Did they foul up my Third Way?
Anthony Giddens
Published 07 June 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/01/labour-anthony-giddens

Over to You, Mr Brown: How Labour Can Win Again
Anthony Giddens (2007)
http://books.google.com/books?id=GHVDYpanIzgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=third+way+giddens+blair+brown&source=bl&ots=FGEH6GjLuW&sig=62P8XIjl4ux_VFBeHVZWsGjbKPM&hl=en&ei=YeLuS6W9KML58Abl7pT-Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=third%20way%20giddens%20blair%20brown&f=false

Blair, the Third Way and European Social Democracy: a new political consensus?
James Sloam (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Paper Presented to "Britain After Blair" Conference, Chicago, IL, 29 August 2007

Using Blair’s (1998) original Fabian pamphlet and the Blair-Schröder paper (1999) as starting points, this paper argues that (contrary to popular belief) Labour’s Third Way has provided a coherent political philosophy that has been enacted in government. Its central aims of have been to promote the primacy of the economy, and to concentrate spending priorities on social investment within the context of an active welfare state. The paper demonstrates that the Third Way under Blair and Brown manifested itself in a consistent approach in a number of key policy areas, and also that the resulting policy innovations successfully shifted the centre of gravity of political debate in the UK. These ideas have furthermore been increasingly accepted by social democratic parties across Europe.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~casey1/BAB-Sloam.pdf

Is New Labour’s ‘Third Way’ New or Just Hot Air in Old Bottles?
Grazia Ietto-Gillies (2006)

Summary: The paper discusses the main aims and characteristics of the three Ways in British economics and politics: the First Way refers to the period from after WWII to the mid 1970s; the second Way refers to the Conservative Government period starting from 1979; and the Third Way to the New Labour Government period since 1997. These three Ways are considered in relation to their main characteristics, the policies of the relevant governments and the problems they have encountered. The New Labour policies are analysed in more details by reference to the case of the National Health Service. The reasons why the New Labour Way is different from the second Way as well as the problems it is facing are highlighted. A discussion of why New Labour has taken the Third Way route follows.

http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1452-595X/2006/1452-595X0602111I.pdf

Left, Right and the third way
Stephen Driver and Luke Martell (2000)

New Labour claims to have discovered a third way between Old Left and New Right, with policy implications that break with established debates and policy alternatives. But what does the third way actually mean in terms of values and its approach to policy? We argue in this article that Labour’s third way does not transcend Old Left and New Right. Left and Right remain important markers for contemporary policy and politics but the third way does combine them in significant new ways. Between Old Left and New Right, we argue, there is not just space for one third way but for many, with varying values and policy positions.

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/ssfa2/leftrightandthethirdway.pdf

Competitiveness, Social Justice, and the Third Way
Paul Cammack (2007)

This paper addresses two questions. How are social justice and competitiveness reconciled in Giddens' Third Way? And what are the implications for the goal of making capitalism work in the interests of consumers and in the long-term interests of society?
The argument put forward is that the Third Way reconciles competitiveness and social justice by redefining social justice, and other key social democratic values such as emancipation, in terms of the logic of competitiveness itself. While this does not mean that there is no scope for reform in the Third Way, it does mean that that there is nothing 'left-of-centre' about it. Social democracy, whatever its shortcomings, sought to set limits to the operation of capitalism in accordance with values derived from a normative framework independent of its logic. The Third Way, in contrast, not only accepts that logic, but seeks to perfect it by promoting individual enterprise and removing social, cultural and institutional impediments to competitiveness at every level. As he embraces and pursues so wholeheartedly the notion of a perfectible capitalism, what Giddens should say is: 'Capitalism has to be made to work. That is in the interests of consumers, and in the long-term interests of society.' The Third Way (Giddens, 1998) systematically subverts the core values of social democracy by re-interpreting them so that they fit with the logic of neoliberalism. Over to You, Mr Brown (Giddens, 2007) continues the same process, and as a consequence reveals the
intellectual and practical limits of Third Way reformism.

http://www.e-space.mmu.ac.uk/e-space/bitstream/2173/11659/1/giddens.pdf