Drawing together for the first time theorists from a range of disciplines and commitments, this interdisciplinary collection offers a reckoning of this New Labour decade.On seeking office and in coming to power, New Labour presented its vision for Britain in moral terms. During the course of the New Labour administration, further moral themes have been introduced: responsibility and respect, the merits of local government and self-governance, and the moral imperative to confront threats of 'terror' from abroad. This moral agenda, with its apparently religious roots, has been much noted, but not much discussed. The political phenomenon of New Labour requires the disciplines of theology and ethics, as well as social theory and politics, to be properly understood and assessed.Drawing together for the first time theorists from a range of disciplines and commitments, this interdisciplinary collection offers a reckoning of this New Labour decade. As such, it has four central research questions: What is the nature of this remoralising? What are its sources? How effective has it been and what difference has this moral discourse made? And, what can be learned from Blairism about the relationship between faith, morals and governance?In recent years the study of the nature and function of religion with respect to politics has seen enormous changes. This important series provides a range of books devoted to furthering this study, and aimed at those studying and researching in this area across both disciplines.Titles in this series look specifically at the relationship between religion and political culture. Drawing upon a broad range of religious perspectives the series is open for studies of historical as well as current phenomena in political culture. It seeks not only to inform but to provoke debate at a time when religion is gaining increasing prominence in the public realm.
Show moreDrawing together for the first time theorists from a range of disciplines and commitments, this interdisciplinary collection offers a reckoning of this New Labour decade.On seeking office and in coming to power, New Labour presented its vision for Britain in moral terms. During the course of the New Labour administration, further moral themes have been introduced: responsibility and respect, the merits of local government and self-governance, and the moral imperative to confront threats of 'terror' from abroad. This moral agenda, with its apparently religious roots, has been much noted, but not much discussed. The political phenomenon of New Labour requires the disciplines of theology and ethics, as well as social theory and politics, to be properly understood and assessed.Drawing together for the first time theorists from a range of disciplines and commitments, this interdisciplinary collection offers a reckoning of this New Labour decade. As such, it has four central research questions: What is the nature of this remoralising? What are its sources? How effective has it been and what difference has this moral discourse made? And, what can be learned from Blairism about the relationship between faith, morals and governance?In recent years the study of the nature and function of religion with respect to politics has seen enormous changes. This important series provides a range of books devoted to furthering this study, and aimed at those studying and researching in this area across both disciplines.Titles in this series look specifically at the relationship between religion and political culture. Drawing upon a broad range of religious perspectives the series is open for studies of historical as well as current phenomena in political culture. It seeks not only to inform but to provoke debate at a time when religion is gaining increasing prominence in the public realm.
Show morePreface - Anthony Giddens 1. Introduction 2. Doing God? Public Theology under Blair, Elaine Graham (University of Manchester, UK) Part I: Ethics and Politics 3. Let Citizens Without Sin Cast the First Stone: Judging the Moral Failings of Blair and Politics, Gerry Stoker (University of Southampton, UK) 4. Demoralizing Britain: 10 Years of Depoliticisation, Stefan Skrimshire (University of Manchester, UK) 5. New Labour and a Liberal Labour Tradition, Will Hutton (former editor of the Observer and Director of the Work Foundation, UK) 6. Gordon Brown and his Presbyterian Moral Compass, Douglas Gay (University of Glasgow, Scotland) Part II: Justice and Community 7. Are We Happier, Mr Brown? John Atherton (William Temple Foundation, UK) 8. Social Justice, Social Control or the Pursuit of Happiness? The Goals and Values of the Regeneration Industry, Jess Steele (Development Trusts Association, UK) 9. But What is Community? The Continuing Development of a New Labour Concept, Mark Chapman (Ripon College, Cuddesdon, UK) 10. Constructing Christian Right Enemies and Allies: US, UK and Eastern Europe, Cynthia Burack (Ohio State University, USA) and Angelia R. Wilson (University of Manchester, UK) 11. The Moral Bases of the Black Panther's Breakfast Program, Head Start (US) and Sure Start (UK): A critical Comparison, Emily Hicks (San Diego State University, USA) 12. Putting the Moral Majority Back in Charge: New Labour's Punitive Politics of Respect, Phil Edwards (University of Manchester, UK) Part III: Justice and International Order 13. Tony Blair and the Commission for Africa: A Fig Leaf For Iraq or a Moral Imperative?, Paul Vallely (the Independent) 14. Soul Brothers? Blair, Bush and the Compact Between Liberal Interventualism and Conservative Nationalism, Inderjeet Parmar (University of Manchester, UK) 15. When Remoralizing Fails? Christopher Baker, Elaine Graham and Peter Manley Scott (University of Manchester, UK) and (University of Manchester, UK).
Drawing together theorists from a range of backgrounds, this interdisciplinary collection gives a decade of New Labour an ethical and theological reckoning.
Peter Manley Scott is Senior Lecturer in Christian Social Thought
and Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of
Manchester.
Christopher Baker is Director of Research for the William Temple
Foundation and Senior Lecturer in Public and Urban Theology at the
University of Chester, UK. Elaine Graham is Grosvenor Research
Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Chester, UK.
"This collection of essays on the moral claims of Tony Blair's New
Labour strategy and government could not be more timely and
relevant. With the collapse of its economic claim to growing
prosperity and financial prudence, what is left to sustain New
Labour's agenda? Remoralizing Britain provides a unique
interdisciplinary account of the religious sources and political
impact of New Labour's critical turn from common ownership to
communal values as the basis of its electoral appeal and government
policies. These essays evaluate how that ethical turn worked out in
practice in the Blair years. I commend this major case study to all
who are concerned about the relationship between morality and
government as citizens, members of faith communities and scholars."
- William Storrar, Director, Center of Theological Inquiry,
Princeton.
"There is much in this book which is excellent. Many contributors
are insightful and illuminating." Modern Churchpeople's Union
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