New Labour and globalization: Globalist discourse with a twist?

Abstract

This article presents a qualitative and quantitative corpus study based on a collection of new Labour texts (1994 to 2007), as an analysis of the party’s discourse on globalization. In addition to providing a detailed description of the multi-faceted concept of globalization, I show that new Labour discourse on globalization is an instance of globalist discourse with a twist. An analysis of the conceptual metaphors related to globalization confirms that it is understood as an inevitable phenomenon, whose causes are unknown and which is almost impossible to predict or stop. However, the link between globalization and progress is more complex: the promise of progress often includes a threat which aims at rendering unpopular policies palatable. I relate this argumentative technique to the emergence of Mouffe’s (1998) ‘politics without adversary’, and argue that it is a characteristic of new Labour discourse beyond the single topic of globalization.