British Politics in the Global Age: Can Social Democracy Survive?

In British Politics in the Global Age, Joel Krieger provides an in-depth study of New Labour's model of government and the political challenges it faces. Krieger analyzes the interaction of global processes and domestic politics from the organization of production to the formation of class, ethnic, and gender-based identities. The book considers how these processes compromise sovereignty, complicate national identities, forge new political agendas, create electoral volatility, and complicate the art of politics. Krieger develops an original framework for analyzing New Labour in comparison to three models of social democracy and places the British case firmly in the context of alternative national models and European debates. Employing an approach with potential applications well beyond the UK, the book reconceptualizes globalization and introduces the concept "modular politics" to explain the context-dependent processes of identity formation that shape--and potentially destabilize--contemporary politics. Thoroughly researched and clearly argued, British Politics in the Global Age is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the full ramifications of New Labour for both Europe and the United States.--Publisher description.