Malta’s Labour Party and social policy : a sociological investigation

Abstract

This Sociological study focuses on social policy and the Labour Party in Malta. This work analyses how the Labour Party is socially constructing meanings on welfare in relation to social policy. The scope of this thesis is to analyse the social policy ideologies of the Labour Party under Dom Mintoff, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Alfred Sant and Joseph Muscat. The Methodology, which was applied to this dissertation was Discourse Theory mainly referred to as post-Structuralism or post-Marxism. Furthermore, the main authors of the theory, who were used in this study, are Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, however special reference is also made to David Howarth. The main findings of this study show that the Labour Party under Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in its first year in power has adopted a „Third Way‟ ideology to social policy in general. Furthermore, some positions taken on other issues have put the current Labour Party in a contradictory position. Additionally, the Labour Party seems to be retaining some aspects of Malta‟s hybrid welfare model and in some other aspects progressive changes are being made.