Learning from the US? The influence of American ideas upon ‘new labour’ thinking on welfare reform

Abstract

English This article assesses how far New Labour thinking about welfare reform has been influenced by ideas and developments in the United States. Having entered office declaring its determination to ‘think the unthinkable’, the Blair administration has subsequently been in earnest pursuit of the workable. It has looked to the US for ideas about wage supplementation and- especially- welfare to work programmes. More broadly, the language in which these policies are presented and justified has drawn heavily upon that of US politicians and commentators. The article discusses the extent and the significance of this ‘Americanisation’ of the welfare debate. It argues that its most important consequence has been to sustain and enhance a moralism which is common to New Labour and Thatcherism, but distrusted by both ‘One Nation’ conservatism and ‘Old Labour’ social democracy.

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