Oltre le ideologie? Valori, pragmatismo e depoliticizzazione nell’esperienza del New Labour

Abstract

The 1997 electoral success of Tony Blair’s New Labour can be seen as the symbolic conclusion of the debate on political ideologies that had developed in the UK and Western Europe during the ’80s and the ’90s, and that intensified after 1989. The “post-ideological” approach that underpinned the Third Way model introduced a strong emphasis on policy outcomes and effectiveness, which have gradually replaced values and ideologies in legitimizing governmental action. The article focuses on this aspect of the political experience of the NL, engaging in an analysis of the political discourse developed in the UK at the end of the 90s. The analysis highlights the contradictions in the experience of the NL. In fact, the attempt to move beyond ideologies appears to be a rhetorical instrument rather than a real transformation. However, the Third way model marked an important turning point in the definition of political legitimation strategies, the effects of which are clearly visible in the political discourses of European political parties in the years after the rise of the NL.