ABSTRACT
One way of thinking about and researching neo-liberalism is as ‘a transnational pressure to release economic activity from state regulation’ (Olssen, Codd & O’Neill, 2004) or as something that ‘puts into question all collective structures capable of obstructing the logic of the pure market’ (Tabb, 2002). Thus, one of the recurrent points of reference in this account of global education policy and neo-liberal practices is the fundamental antagonism and, at the same time, mutual dependency between markets and states. It is not possible to account for the roll-out of ‘actually existing’ neoliberalism without also addressing changes to the form and modalities of the state. These changes are taking place at the nexus between regulation and midwifery (Blackmore, 1999), that is the role of the state in setting limits to the market, while at the same time creating conditions within which the market can flourish and expand – there are many examples of this duality in the chapters which follow. In its current iteration this duality of regulation and facilitation is expressed and enacted by means of what Jessop calls metagovernance – ‘the organisation of the conditions for governance in its broadest sense’ (2002, p. 240). Metagovernance represents a shift in state organisation and practices, which in political science is commonly referred to as a shift from government to governance. That is:
The hierarchical model of government is in decline, pushed by governments’ appetites to solve ever more complicated problems and pulled by new tools that allow innovators to fashion creative responses. This push and pull is gradually producing a new government model, in which executives’ core responsibilities no longer centre on managing people and programs but on organising resources-often belonging to others-to produce public value.
