New Labour's information age policy programme: An ideology analysis

Abstract

Since its election in 1997 the New Labour government in the UK has initiated an ambitious and wide-ranging public policy programme for information and communication technology. The authors of this article consider how an analysis of political ideology can help to understand and explain these policy developments. The case is made that New Labour's distinctive policy approach to technology is structured, defined and made sense of by preceding ideational change, both epistemological and conceptual in form. To understand and explain New Labour's response to new technologies at the level of policy, it is therefore necessary and productive to interpret its broader response to the ‘information age’ at the level of political ideology. Carrying out such an analysis, the article examines how New Labour's ICT policies are framed and shaped by new conceptions of networked order and technological citizenship. The article concludes by suggesting that a productive avenue for future research would be to address the often messy ‘translation’ of ideology and policy in practice.

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