The party is over: the ‘Modernization’ of British Labour
Abstract
The transformation of Labour into ‘New’ Labour has been the object of many debates stressing the
continuities between the two organizations and underlying the extent to which the language of
modernization was tightly integrated into a comprehensive electoral strategy. Relatively few works
consider the cultural and organizational changes brought about during the Blair years. This paper
draws from a long term research on party organizations in Britain and will focus on the impact of
the individualization of party relationships are part of broader changes within British politics such
as the rise of the audit culture and the growing role of the private firm as an organizational model.
These changes affect not only the link with trade unions and policy-making but also attitudes to
campaigning, financing and structuring the party.
[author's draft abstract]