The party is over: the ‘Modernization’ of British Labour

The transformation of Labour into ‘New’ Labour has been the object of many debates stressing thecontinuities between the two organizations and underlying the extent to which the language ofmodernization was tightly integrated into a comprehensive electoral strategy. Relatively few worksconsider the cultural and organizational changes brought about during the Blair years. This paperdraws from a long term research on party organizations in Britain and will focus on the impact ofthe individualization of party relationships are part of broader changes within British politics suchas the rise of the audit culture and the growing role of the private firm as an organizational model.These changes affect not only the link with trade unions and policy-making but also attitudes tocampaigning, financing and structuring the party.[author's draft abstract