Fourth Way

The Fourth Way is a leftist political position that draws on social market economics, trade unionism and Georgism, while rejecting Third Way economic policies and models. Typically, Fourth Way politicians are also socially left-wing. Fourth Way economics was borne from changing economic attitudes in Esthursia following the 2010-11 financial crisis, widely considered by Fourth Way economists to be caused by excessive deregulation, poor governance and stresses due to socioeconomic inequality, and Fourth Way economics in turn ended the neoliberal consensus within Esthursia that had existed for the previous ten years, boosted by its closeness to trade union platforms which had become more powerful in the country at the time.

Fourth Way politics is typically espoused by social democrats and democratic socialists on the centre-left to left-wing of politics. Esthursia's present Forethane Harold Osborne is its key proponent, and has pursued policies and appointed Chancellors to this effect, claiming that the socialism he pursued was "aspirational socialism, redistributive and positive to production at the same time, while also funding increased public wellbeing", and that Fourth Way economics was centred around the goal for "equity of earnt outcome". Attitudes towards capitalism are mixed among Fourth Way economists, however Harold Osborne and the majority of economists therewith do not advocate for its removal, and instead aim to "aggressively" meter its worst aspects, while creating or boosting mechanisms to redistribute away "hoarded" wealth and excess income - seen in its rebuke of conventional corporation tax as flawed, its advocacy for a larger land value tax, and cuts to less progressive taxes - while also promoting a particularly robust and wide-stretching welfare net. Additionally, Fourth Way economics typically promotes a larger state with particularly high involvement in the economy - with the Esthursian government's spending taking up over half of GDP in the 2020s - while promoting co-operatives over "one-man conglomerates" where desirable. Private involvement in state and public interests, particularly where there is a lack of rivalry or the product/service is necessary to most people, is near-universally opposed and has been reversed or scrapped where Fourth Way economists have reached power. A particularity of Fourth Way economics is also in "demarketising" housing and land, in promoting land value taxes, and high social housing stocks, while further education is typically viewed as a human right and thus free in states adhering to Fourth Way economics.

Policies supported by self-purported Fourth Way supporters vary by region, political circumstances, and ideological leanings. Fourth Way advocates generally oppose public-private partnerships, support a commitment to balanced budgets, combining equality of opportunity with disincentivising the buildup of unearnt wealth, redistribution of income, large and sustained schemes of public and research-derived investment, strengthening of trade union rights and industrial democracy, the formation of Citizens' Assemblies, high public spending including in times of recession, rejection of "NIMBYism" and mass social housing programmes, improving human and social capital, and protection of the environment. But even to these ends Fourth Way advocates differ due to conflicting priorities. Lauren Bowen, Osborne's second Chancellor, was notably unwilling to raise wealth taxes beyond existing levels, while Edelard Burnside - her successor - has instituted a wide range of tax reforms, including the increase of wealth tax and large public infrastructure schemes. Furthermore, Fourth Way economists and politicians in Esthursia typically support and draw from the Asmont model and the Asmont-era Workers' Union governments, which aggressively targeted the aristocracy and landowners for wealth taxation, democratised the country further, built much of the country's social housing stock, formed the modern welfare state, and pursued socially liberal law. Fourth Way economists are divided over nuclear weapons and military spending, with some (including Harold Osborne) advocating for nuclear proliferation and high military spending to cope with tensions, and others viewing it as a hit on public spending.

The Fourth Way has been criticised by other social democrats, as well as liberals and centrists, as unsure and dependent on omission of Third Way politics over all else, as well as potentially undermining capitalist principles and relying on left-wing trade unionism and populism, with some analysts characterising the Fourth Way as an effectively collectivist socialist movement. It has also been criticised by conservatives, classical liberals, and libertarians who advocate for laissez-faire capitalism.

Overview

Origins

The Asmont model, the Esthursian economic structure for the past century, is commonly cited as the birth of Fourth Way economists, although Asmont never referred to it as such. Its values of high public spending, a large welfare state and safety net, public regeneration, mass housebuilding projects, universal healthcare and education, economic redistribution and ardent opposition to "inherited advantage" are essentially universal among Fourth Way economists in the modern day.

The term Fourth Way was initially coined in the 1990s by Esthursian leftists who were opposed to neoliberal reforms to social democratic parties worldwide, in particular to the "race to the bottom" in corporation tax rates, antipathy towards trade unionism, unwillingness to utilise state intervention, and wider unwillingness to spend or invest beyond influencing private investment. This was accelerated in the 2000s, with the election of Third Way Social Democratic Forethane Mark Willesden in 1999, who began to pursue private-public partnerships, PFI schemes, scrapping housebuilding targets and making welfare conditional, and culminated in the formation of the Progressive Group.

The Progressive Group under Benjamin Newberry were possibly the key proponent of Fourth Way socialism until the 2010s. Newberry endorsed economist Anthony Black, who later became a part of the Chancellery in 2023, whose papers and statements in the 2000s and 2010s were pivotal in defining Fourth Way socialism.

The economy of Esthursia, since at least a lifetime ago, has been built on redirecting unused wealth into the economy through taxation, and through boosting consumption by promoting labour over capital, furthered by high levels of public investment.