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Position Paper: Critique of The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte

by Samuel Chapman

Central European University

Professor Andras Bozoki

Winter, 2!

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"he annotated #riti$ue by %oanne Barkan of the The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte &oes after

va&ue, va#uous, and 'eak links in the manifesto( She #lamors for spe#ifi#ity, more e)amples and

so on, but she herself is often la#kin& substan#e in her rea#tions( *t is by nature of the #riti$ue +

that she is ust as va&ue and va#uous as the te)t she is attemptin& to disse#t( *n a 'ay this is

#hara#teristi# of #riti$ue, 'hether it be literary or in this #ase, ideolo&i#al #ontent( *t is often easy

to disse#t te)ts, espe#ially ideolo&i#ally based te)ts be#ause they take sides, the are assertive and

dra' lines in the sand( Without this form of #ommuni#ation politi#al ideolo&ies are 'ithout

value( So in this sense, 'hile there is merit to a fe' points mentioned in the mar&ins it doesn-t

a#tually doanythin&. it is an attempted e)e&esis of an ideolo&i#al te)t and at times borders

tautolo&i#al e)position(

/o'ever, the #riti#al attention to the manifesto is not entirely 'ithout substan#e( "he

intersti#es bet'een the manifesto and annotation are often but a matter of interpretation 'hi#h is

#ommon 'ith #omprehendin& rhetori# of a promoted ideolo&y( Barkan #alls out the va#uity of

the rhetori#, #allin& it &eneri# and at times revealin& the impli#it pretensions in phrases su#h as,

0We support a market e#onomy, not a market so#iety1234, to 'hi#h she asks 'hy pretend that

the t'o #an be neatly separated( At times it is but a matter of sube#tive interpretation, su#h as

the issue of distributive usti#e and the substantial e$uality of opportunity and out#ome( Essential

they are both talkin& about the same thin&, a pluralist approa#h to the institutional duty to make

sure distribution is ust 'here individuals only have a se#ondary responsibility( Blair and

S#hroeder are talkin& about responsibility, responsible spendin& and realisti# approa#hes to

#ompetition, employment and livin& standards( Althou&h they appear to disa&ree, both the #riti#

and the author are essentially talkin& about the same thin&(

Barkan refers to the S'edish model at least nine times, establishin& a polemi# a&ainst the

e)a&&erations of the "hird Way( She #omplains about analysis and des#ription, su#h as

fle)ibility and &lobalization( 5et as a manifesto * believe its &oal is not ne#essary to provide

analysis or outri&ht des#ription + as part of the ideolo&i#al messa&e it serves to &ive the illusion

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