Winning back the center

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - Political Systems - General and Comparisons grade: 20 University of Bonn language: English abstract: Whatever their differences of character and the differences of thepolitical systems are William Clinton and Tony Blair are joined atthe hip as energetic parishioners of the so-called Third way politics.Both restructured and repositioned their parties by breaking withtheir party's old style policies. New Labour and New Democrats bothmeant a clear cut from their parties political past. With a newagenda and new politics and last but not least a new and a wellorganized party machine rallied behind them both succeeded intaking back the power after many years of opposition. But to whatpolitical price?In order to win back the political center Bill Clinton and Tony Blairmade significant strategically policy shifts that parted with theirparties old-style liberal/ socialist 1paths to more business friendlyand social conservative policies.In this paper a comparison and analysis of the political „Third waypolitics in the United States of America and Great Britain shall bemade. The emphasis is on how and why these politics were adoptedand whether they ultimately succeeded.