The Livingstone Phenomenon Comment

In 1997, the new Labour party won the election with the declaration of "new Labour, new England" under the leadership of Blair, in charge of Downing Street 10 once again. In the election manifesto of 1997, the new Labour party pledged to elect a Mayor and Assembly for London(collectively known as the Greater London Authority,GLA) in a direct way of election. But it is beside the anticipation of the new Labour's leaders that Ken Livingstone, the leader of Labour party's left wing in 1980s, was elected as the mayor of London in 2000. Some people said ,the true conflict of Btitish politics is the struggle between the new Labour and Livingstone in London. However, Livingstone, with the name of "red Ken", was loved and respected by the residents and up to now has already been re-elected as London mayor for two sessions. The three pair of opposite contradiction, which is between the radicalism and the pragmatism, resigning from and returning the Party, and the respect of the residents to the represents of ultra leftist, formed the Livingstone phenomenon.The Livingstone phenomenon, which appears in England in turns of the century, has profound reasons of economics, politics and the social environments. Attempting to make a over-all analysis of the Livingstone phenomenon, this article expounds this phenomenon from three aspects: its performance, reasons of its appearance and Livingstone's left wing policy, making a great effort to look upon the appearance of the Livingstone phenomenon comprehensively.The thesis is divided into four parts:The first part summarizes the Livingstone phenomenon. It elaborates on the Livingstone phenomenon, and emphatically introduces three contradictions of Livingstone phenomenon, which is between the radicalism and the pragmatism, resigning from and returning the Party ,the respect of the residents to the represents of ultra leftist.The second part is the analysis of Livingstone's basic position and his policy, mainly from the aspects of the tax policy, counter-privatization, anti-war principle and anti-globalization since Livingstone was elected as the London mayor.The third part is the political analysis of the appearance reason of the LivingstonePhenomenon. It considers that it is not only a result of the British domestic social environment, but also a result of the economical globalization of the international environment. Besides, it is not also resulted by the Labour party's interior constitution , but also the influence of "the third way" which is fashionable in whole Europe.The forth part are two ponders of the appearance of Livingstone phenomenon. The appearance of Livingstone phenomenon is a special expression of the social and political environmental changes that the Labour party faced, and the political decision-making is fundamentally influenced by the benefits of the Party. At the worldwide angle, the appearance of Livingstone phenomenon is by no means coincidental, but is an inevitable phenomenon in a complex and changeable historical advancement.