What did Anthony Giddens have to do with it?
Developed by the sociologist and director of the London School of Economics, Prof Anthony Giddens, the third way stated that the old class-based divisions of left and right are now redundant.
Prof Giddens argued that reformist governments could no longer rely on traditional statist programmes in the face of powerful global financial forces. Instead, political parties could generate significant consensual support by campaigning from the centre, while remaining committed to radical measures. He therefore advised New Labour not to be afraid of being called conservative.
Wasn't Bill Clinton involved?
Bill Clinton's electoral success after renaming his party the New Democrats was an inspiration to Mr Blair and his fellow Labour modernisers. Both shared the belief that a new ideological compass was needed.
In September 1998, Mr Clinton and Mr Blair held a conference in New York to officially launch their new ideology. Both said they rejected the neo-liberal belief that everything can be left to the market, but also saw the traditional left-of-centre faith in state intervention in the economy as outdated.
How successful was it internationally?
In April 1999 it appeared as if Bill Clinton's New Democrats and Europe's social democrats were on the way towards a new era of productive cooperation. A round-table discussion in Washington - entitled The Third Way: Progressive Governance for the 21st Century - included the US president, the British prime minister, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder; the Dutch prime minister, Wim Kok; and Italian prime minister, Massimo D'Alema.
What about Blair's European counterparts?
The following June, Mr Blair succeeded in launching a joint document: Third Way - Die Neue Mitte - with Gerhard Schröder. They both agreed that they had managed to reconcile continental social democracy and that their new ideology should guarantee power for Europe's centre-left for years to come.
What's the state of play now?
Three years on, however, the outlook for the third way looks bleak. A Republican is in the White House and Mr Schröder has turned away from his earlier fascination with the Clinton-Blair outlook towards a more traditional leftwing stance.