2. In contemporary times, it refers to a "center-left" social democratic political philosophy or theory that adapts to the changes of global science and technology, economy, society, class and living environment. At least it can be traced back to Bernstein, a theorist of the German Social Democratic Party. Since then, it has often been used by social Democrats and European socialists to show the difference between their views and American free market capitalism and Soviet socialist model. In other words, between the traditional left and the right, it is neither laissez-faire nor excessive intervention by the left. It is a left-of-center road (biased intervention), which appeared in the 1990s.
Mainly include
(1) Redetermine the strength to rely on. The traditional working class used to be the main force of the Social Democratic Party. However, with the change of class relations, the number of the traditional working class is getting smaller and smaller, which puts the Social Democratic Party at a disadvantage in the election. In order to meet the needs of the election, survive and develop, the Social Democratic Party must redefine its dependence. At present, the Social Democratic Party mainly relies on the strength of three groups in theory: First, workers. Although these people only account for 6% of the population, they are traditional voters, staunch supporters of the Social Democratic Party and the relying force that the Social Democratic Party cannot give up. Second, employees in the computer, culture and service industries. These people actually include the main white-collar workers. They are energetic, enterprising, responsible, pursuing the improvement of economic innovation ability and interested in politics, but they are unwilling to be bound by party politics and have weak ideas. The third is small business owners. Although small enterprises have fewer people, they are efficient. Small business owners are generally very innovative, self-reliant, and have no requirements for society. They rely on themselves. The Social Democratic Party can form a political majority by relying on these three groups, which can guarantee victory in the election, and the similarity of these three groups is that they all advocate social justice. The second of the three is the most important, because with the economic development and social progress, the number of these people will increase.
(2) reinterpret the concept of social justice. Social justice is the core value of social democracy, and it is also the most important symbol that distinguishes it from its main competitor-liberalism. However, in the past, the Social Democratic Party's understanding of social justice was seriously limited, and it overemphasized formal equality, and achieved equality and justice by establishing an egalitarian welfare state. Now, the Social Democratic Party has revised its view on social justice. Thomas Meyer believes that social justice is a complex and operable social phenomenon, which has the following meanings: 1, formal equality, that is, everyone has the same civil rights and the right to participate in social management; 2. The society is very inclusive, and everyone is likely to participate in social development and have a sense of belonging and responsibility to society; 3. Society allows some inequalities, such as income inequality and unequal treatment, because it is beneficial to social development and people at the bottom of society. This concept of inequality and equality is not contradictory, but functional inequality, not objective; 4. Social justice is not the natural result of market behavior, but a political goal; No matter how great a person's contribution to society is, whether he is successful or not, his personal dignity should be treated fairly, and society must provide him with the most basic living guarantee.
Social justice is a prerequisite for achieving social unity. There are only two channels to ensure social unity: one is to maintain it by violence, and the other is to convincingly explain the rationality of social existence. If the latter method is adopted, social justice must be realized first.
(3) Abandon the traditional left-right political division and take a road that is neither left nor right nor middle. Not labeling leftists or Rightists with ideology is one of the remarkable features of the third way. Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the British Labor Party, said that there is a revolution going on in Britain at present, the purpose of which is to introduce a real Blair-style management model between laissez-faire and rigid state interventionism. Blair has repeatedly said that his government is pragmatic and he rejects any dogma. The most important thing is how to make the country develop, whether it is left or right. Giddens once expounded the third way: the so-called third way is to transcend traditional political concepts, that is, neo-liberalism advocated by the old right wing and social democracy of the old left wing, rather than being in between.
The third way mainly has the following characteristics: in political philosophy, the old left and right wings are divided on the basis of class, but class is no longer the dominant force in political life, so the third way must be based on a new consortium, which is not easy to classify by left or right. In dealing with state power, the old left wing seeks to expand the role of the state, while the old right wing is the opposite, while the third way seeks to rebuild governments at all levels, devote itself to making up the democratic deficit of the existing regime, and promote constitutional reform, administrative transparency and local democracy. On the issue of dealing with associations, the old left is skeptical about the role of associations, while the old right believes that as long as state power does not exert influence, associations will prosper. The third way not only recognizes the value of the community, but also sees the role that state power can play in promoting the prosperity of the community. On the issue of nationality, Lao Zuo believes that there should be no national concept, while Lao Right overemphasizes nationalism, which leads to chauvinism. The third way is to agree with the concept of "world nation", admit that nation is still important, but appreciate the integration of modern nations, appreciate "fuzzy nationalism" and "pluralistic sovereignty", and advocate distinguishing nations from countries. On economic issues, the old left is in favor of mixed economy to transform capitalism, the old right advocates market economy, and the third way advocates "new mixed economy", emphasizing competition and rules rather than ownership. On the issue of welfare state, the old left welcomes it and regards it as the main carrier of redistribution, while the old right regards it as the devil. The goal of the third road is to transform the welfare state into a "social investment country", and the key point is to change the money spent on public welfare undertakings into "human capital investment". Social investment countries will take a positive attitude towards weakening the toxic environment and other things. In the global order, the old left has no global theory, only simplified proletarian internationalism, and the old right's international relations theory is based on how to deal with war. The third way is that people no longer live in a bipolar world, so the country has no enemies, and the country just faces various dangers. eight
(4) Four themes. Although the third way has different models in different countries, each country has chosen its own development path according to its own national conditions, and social democracy does not pursue a unified development model, all countries and political parties have the same four themes:
1, new economy. The core content is how to achieve full employment and rapid growth under the situation of globalization. There are four main ways: first, the state provides support for development, research and education to ensure that the economy has the ability to innovate; Second, the state supports the establishment of a large number of small enterprises, so that they have enough flexibility to reflect; Third, implement more short-term employment system, so that more people can share the work and have employment opportunities; Fourth, create some low-income jobs necessary for society, and the state supports them to ensure that the income of the employed can reach a certain level.
2. New welfare state. The high welfare in the past led some people to abuse social welfare, and the possibility of this kind of thing must be reduced. The principle of the new welfare state is to turn the social welfare state into a social investment country. In other words, most of the welfare investment can no longer be used to help the unemployed, that is, to put out fires, but to be used for employment training, that is, to prevent fires. At the same time, we strongly advocate self-help in society and change the concept that everything depends on the state.
3. New ruling behavior. The traditional country is centralized. With the increase of social complexity, this ruling model has gradually failed. The solution of liberalism is privatization and marketization. The Social Democratic Party wants to find another way. For example, on the issue of social security, the state can administratively require everyone to buy insurance, set a goal, and the society will raise funds to achieve the goal. In many things, the state can negotiate with the participants to find solutions together, and it is not necessary to use the power of state administration when encountering any problems. French Prime Minister Jospin brilliantly summed up the ruling behavior of the "third way": "We want a market economy, not a market society."