‘Rolling back, rolling out’: exceptionalism and neoliberalism of the Spanish state

Abstract

In recent literature, there has been extensive work revolving around the process of neoliberalism, its implications for the unfolding of state spaces, and its dramatic impact on processes of policy production. Some of this literature offers a periodized trajectory of neoliberalization, by first discussing the consolidation of the Keynesian welfare state (KWS) in the 1950s and 1960s, its subsequent erosion in the 1970s and 1980s, and the restructuring and dramatic rescaling of the state in the 1990s. Utilizing examples of Spanish educational policy in the post‐Franco era, this paper explores some of the complex ways in which neoliberal pressures are impacting states situated outside these KWS templates.