Beyond Right and Left: New Politics and the Culture Wars

Do Right and Left still mean anything in politics? Are environmental issues always 'left wing'? Is it only 'right wing' to worry about the family? In fact, these traditional connections have broken down, but what is taking their place? In Australian politics today a new free market Right holds the ascendancy in ideas, while Labor and the Left struggle with a crisis of belief. David McKnight makes a compelling argument that the new Right has a radical agenda, not a conservative one. He shows how this drives some of the most vexed issues of our time: overconsumption, work-family balance, immigration and the environment. McKnight points to the rise of a new politics based on moral values, and argues that the Left needs to rethink its fundamental ideas. He offers a positive political vision beyond Right and Left which he calls a 'new humanism', based on classic principles of freedom, compassion for others and the common good.