Where Now for European Social Democracy? - Policy Network

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DAVID BLUNKETT 81There is a vast amount of accumulated wisdom in our laws andlegal system. But at the same time, we must accept that theydeveloped for most of their history in a time where there were nointernational terrorists, no suicide bombers – for whom, unlikeordinary offenders, the prospect of punishment is irrelevant – no DNAevidence which could identify guilty parties long after the crime hadtaken place, and so on. These are the circumstances we have to facetoday in protecting society and enforcing basic rights and duties. Wemust adapt and develop our systems of justice and security, whilecontinuing to ensure that our philosophy and principles develop in away that is both responsive to the new environment and faithful to ourcentral vision of freedom.I believe that there is a wider challenge in adapting theseprinciples than simply to amend our laws and powers. As government,we will only be able to make our system of justice effective, anddeliver freedom in its widest sense, if we demonstrate that we can usethe power vested in us responsibly, and gain the trust of the public.That is why, alongside our legal developments, we have embarkedupon a programme of fundamental reform and investment across thepublic sector, including the courts, the police, our prisons, immigrationservice and support for communities. We are striving to make theseservices more efficient – for example with better systems performancemonitoring for the police and enormous investments in informationtechnologies to make our court systems work better – but also moreresponsive to the needs of the communities they serve. We aredeveloping community justice courts, which give people moreunderstanding of and confidence in how the system works for them,and youth referral panels which involve communities in dealing withoffenders, empowering them and enabling people to be part of thesolution.International progress requires co-operation not competitionI have talked about how responding to new challenges in the areas ofpolicing and justice requires us to engage local communities. But italso requires us to make new connections in another direction, on the
82WHERE NOW FOR EUROPEAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY?international stage. This brings me to my fourth theme, the need foran international response to what is an increasingly internationalchallenge.In the past, nations consciously chose to engage or disengagein international events. Isolation or collaboration was a matter ofconscious political decision. Today others have chosen and will choosewhether we engage or disengage, because terrorists and terrorist actscannot be escaped by any of us. They have engaged with us and wehave to engage with them; and in doing so, we have to accept that ourproblems and our enemies have no respect for national boundaries.In a world where the perverse certainties of the Cold War havedisappeared, insecurity, and the fear it brings, requires humanity toshare the task of providing international order and security. If weaccept that we are now inter-related, one with another, whether welike it or not, we will understand why, for example, there is noquestion of the UK having to choose whether we should work withEurope, or with the US. We have to do both. But it is important thatwe do so in a way which builds civil society across the world, whichengages with people, and is not just an exercise of distant diplomacy.As I have tried to emphasise at several points in this paper, thedevelopment of civil society is fundamentally linked to thedevelopment of freedom, from the local all the way up to theinternational level.That is why I believe that not only do we need greater jointworking, but the kind of joint working that people around the worldwill recognise, accept and trust. Achieving this is our responsibility aspolitical leaders. As Tony Blair put it, “partnership not rivalry” is thesort of international system which most people seek. Combining theforces of good for a purpose greater than dealing with the threat of adictator. Combining to ensure that the world is a better and a saferplace. For this is a very different world, even to 20 years ago. Theworld of the internet, the world of satellite phones and digitaltelevision, is a world on the move. Together, global movements ofpeople and instant forms of communication demand collaborativesolutions to shared problems.The developing world is our concern for we seek to enable those
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Where Now forEuropeanSocial Democra
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Published in 2004 by Policy Network
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AcknowledgementsThis collection of
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Notes on the ContributorsTony Blair
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PrefaceTONY BLAIRI welcome this pub
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What is a just society?For a radica
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Page 62: JEAN PISANI-FERRY 55macroeconomic f
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