Context Of Neoliberal Policies Research Articles

Small Cities, Neoliberal Governance and Sustainable Development in the Global South: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

Development and environmental issues of small cities in developing countries have largely been overlooked although these settlements are of global demographic importance and often face a “triple challenge”; that is, they have limited financial and human resources to address growing environmental problems that are related to both development (e.g., pollution) and under-development (e.g., inadequate water supply). Neoliberal policy has arguably aggravated this challenge as public investments in infrastructure generally declined while the focus shifted to the metropolitan “economic growth machines”. This paper develops a conceptual framework and agenda for the study of small cities in the global south, their environmental dynamics, governance and politics in the current neoliberal context. While small cities are governed in a neoliberal policy context, they are not central to neoliberalism, and their (environmental) governance therefore seems to differ from that of global cities. Furthermore, “actually existing” neoliberal governance of small cities is shaped by the interplay of regional and local politics and environmental situations. The approach of urban political ecology and the concept of rural-urban linkages are used to consider these socio-ecological processes. The conceptual framework and research agenda are illustrated in the case of India, where the agency of small cities in regard to environmental governance seems to remain limited despite formal political decentralization.

Evaluating the Finance of Primary Education in Turkey within the Context of Neo-Liberal Policies

The purpose of the study is to analyze the financing approaches of primary education in Turkey within the context of neo-liberal policies. Therefore the survey model was used to describe the existing situation and data were compiled with the methods of documents reviewing and personal interviews. The study group is composed of the branch office managers responsible for the budget work and the people who work in National Education Directorates of Central Administrative Districts within Ankara; namely Altondag, Mamak, Kecioren, Yenimahalle and Cankaya. The study group also consists of 15 school administrators, teachers and students' parents in those schools. The schools are located within boundaries of the above-mentioned central districts, having different socio-economic levels (SEL). A total of 62 people are interviewed throughout the research and so-called interviews are recorded on a tape. Besides, the interviews are coded to keep each person's identity information secret. The proportion of primary education expenditures in the expenditures of Ministry of National Education decreased by 6.2 per cent on average, despite the increase in the number of teachers and students between the years of 1974 and 2003. It is revealed in this study that the primary education has 13 different out budget sources. This structure of multi finances in primary education means that the government has been transferring the public responsibility of presenting and transfers goverment's responsibility of presenting and financing primary education to 'local units' and non-government organizations such as ‘civil organizations', 'firms' and 'individuals' through 'localization', 'privatization' and 'good governance' practices. It is observed that primary schools examined access approximately 60 different sources of income which are outside the Central Government Budget . But the number of those sources is varied with the SEL of the schools. Subject to the budget sources, schools have better facilities or reverse. In the research, the problems that school administrators as well as teachers and parents have faced while performing their duties and the difficulties that they have encountered during the process of finding out budget sources variate with the SEL of the schools.

Growth and decline in the Canadian urban system: the impact of emerging economic, policy and demographic trends

The Canadian urban system was first shaped by exogenous demand for staples and, subsequently, by the dichotomy between an industrial heartland and a resource based hinterland. Presently, transformations affecting the economy, policy-making and demography herald profound changes in the future configuration of the Canadian urban system. One possible scenario is a revival of the staples economy as economic globalization raises demand for commodities. Another scenario would entail a concentration of growth in large urban centres, by virtue of their attractiveness to specialized and high-order service occupations, two rapidly expanding economic sectors, and their strong pull on immigrants. In the case of either scenario, we can expect further polarization between growing and shrinking portions of the urban system (parts of the heartland in the first case and small urban areas in the second) in a neo-liberal policy context that is unfavourable to regional economic development interventions. The evolution of the Canadian urban system between 1971 and 2006 and present distributions of factors of growth and decline point to the second scenario, a growing large city-small city dichotomy. The article closes by discussing likely consequences of the resulting urban system configuration on labour market adjustments and public sector expenditure.

The appeal of the International Baccalaureate in Australia's educational market: a curriculum of choice for mobile futures

In Australia there is growing interest in a national curriculum to replace the variety of matriculation credentials managed by State Education departments, ostensibly to address increasing population mobility. Meanwhile, the International Baccalaureate (IB) is attracting increasing interest and enrolments in State and private schools in Australia, and has been considered as one possible model for a proposed Australian Certificate of Education. This paper will review the construction of this curriculum in Australian public discourse as an alternative frame for producing citizens, and ask why this design appeals now, to whom, and how the phenomenon of its growing appeal might inform national curricular debates. The IB's emergence is understood with reference to the larger context of neo-liberal marketisation policies, neo-conservative claims on the curriculum and middle-class strategy. The paper draws on public domain documents from the International Baccalaureate Organisation and newspaper reportage to demonstrate how the IB is constructed for public consumption in Australia.

From Structural Adjustment to Social Adjustment

The article explores the implications for gender roles and relations in Nicaragua of implementing a Conditional Cash Transfer programme aimed at improving the situation of the extreme poor. Nicaragua's programme, the Social Protection Network/Red de Protección Social (RPS), is modelled on the Progresa/Oportunidades programme of Mexico and shares many features in common. Evaluations of Progresa have suggested positive outcomes for women. However, examination of the findings highlight some cause for concern particularly around what inclusion on the programme means for the women involved. The article explores the consequences of translating this programme aimed at addressing the structural causes of poverty into a more overtly neoliberal and neo-conservative policy context such as that in Nicaragua. It highlights how a key feature of the RPS is the `social adjustment' of women's behaviour for economic growth gains and discusses the possible consequences for the women included and excluded from the programme.

Educating for Global Citizenship: Conflicting Agendas and Understandings

Educating for global citizenship is increasingly named as a goal of education. This study examines the variations in intent and approach to global education and educating for global citizenship. A review of the literature identifies the links between citizenship and globalization as well as the conflicting discourses and agendas surrounding citizenship education in a globalized neoliberal policy context. Using a conceptual framework that highlights three contrasting approaches to globalization—a neoliberal approach, a radical approach, and a transformational approach—this article compares three global education policies and their citizenship education approaches and highlights the issues implicit in each as well as the problems and possibilities for furthering a social justice agenda. The article concludes that education for global citizenship is a complex and contested concept and that educators who claim to be educating for global citizenship must be clear on the implications of their work.

Educating for Global Citizenship: Conflicting Agendas and Understandings.

Educating for global citizenship is increasingly named as a goal of education. This study examines the variations in intent and approach to global education and educating for global citizenship. A review of the literature identifies the links between citizenship and globalization as well as the conflicting discourses and agendas surrounding citizenship education in a globalized neoliberal policy context. Using a conceptual framework that highlights three contrasting approaches to globalization—a neoliberal approach, a radical approach, and a transformational approach—this article compares three global education policies and their citizenship education approaches and highlights the issues implicit in each as well as the problems and possibilities for furthering a social justice agenda. The article concludes that education for global citizenship is a complex and contested concept and that educators who claim to be educating for global citizenship must be clear on the implications of their work.

Gender and Globalisation: Labour Changes in the Global Economy

The article focuses on gender aspects of globalisation and global restructuring and criticises the masculine bias of mainstream theories of globalisation. It is aimed at adding a global dimension to Czech gender studies. It looks at the way in which globalisation is gendered and based on gender ideologies, and how global restructuring affects and change gender systems. Primarily economic globalisation is addressed, and the changes in the organisation of labour globally are examined. Global production is dependent on cheap women’s labour in the factories of multi-national corporations in the global south. The process of rendering labour more flexible and informal is associated with its feminisation. Care work and migration are also becoming feminised on a global scale. The article also analyses domestic work performed in the United States and Western Europe by women migrants from developing countries. All these processes are occurring within the context of neo-liberal policies and the changing role of states amidst a global restructuring, which needs to be examined from a gender perspective.

Epilogue: The Mental Health Reform Cakewalk: Moving Forwards Backwards

This epilogue reviews the papers presented in this volume, drawing out the main themes and placing them in the context of the issues identified in the Not for Service report published by the Mental Health Council of Australia and the Brain and Mind Research Institute (2005). It uses the analogy of the cakewalk to describe the progress of mental health reform and the way in which progressive policies have been undermined over the reform period. It identifies the neoliberal policy context, inadequate resourcing and workplace issues as critical contributors to this process. It concludes with an analysis of some of the key areas in which a sociological perspective can make a major contribution.

The privatization of public interest: theorizing NGO discourse in a neoliberal era

This paper examines recent policy discussions on non-governmental organiz­ations (NGOs) and their central role in the democratization of civil society. The author argues that the policy debate on NGOs exemplifies the conflict between liberalism and socialism, or more specifically between private interest and public good. The contemporary context of neoliberal economic policies and structural adjustment represents a vindication of liberal norms, and the ascendancy of NGOs is theorized in this context. An analysis of recent policy positions on NGOs and their role in promoting governance and development is illustrative of the complex ways in which NGOs, at local and international levels, are being incorporated into the neoliberal model of civil society.

Reconstructing the future: Du Bois, racial pedagogy and the post-civil rights era

This essay addresses the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois, as both scholar and activist, at a time when the university's civic mission is imperiled by corporatisation and racial backlash, access to its resources are increasingly predicated on whiteness and wealth, and the greater public good is financially and spiritually starved with every advance of American empire abroad. Focusing on Black Reconstruction, it elaborates in particular on the pedagogical implications of Du Bois's reading of the post-Reconstruction era for progressives caught in the contradictions of the current post-Civil Rights era. Drawing on Du Bois's insistence that education (both formal and informal) is central to the functioning of a nonrepressive and inclusive polity, the essay reflects on the current crisis of black educational access to quality schooling at all levels, as well as the relentless attacks on more public sites of pedagogy, within the context of neoliberal social and economic policies as well as the racist backlash against the civil rights gains of the 1960s. It addresses the degree to which engaged dialogue about the history and politics of racialised exclusion in the US and globally in the university have been derailed by the dictates of a particularly limp version of liberal multiculturalism and its allegiance to the privatised discourses of identity and difference. In so doing, it explores the role that educators might play in linking rigorous scholarship and critical pedagogy to progressive struggles for securing the very conditions for racial justice and political democracy.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Sangeeta Kamat focuses on the experience of community-based NGOs, also known as CBOs or grassroots organizations, to elaborate on the political culture engendered by NGOs in the global economy. This article draws upon her work on CBOs in India, recently published as a book, as well as her forthcoming work on the regulation of NGOs in the neo-liberal policy context.

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority takes the credit for education

Education in many Western countries is being reformed. The paper examines the role of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority in the neo-liberal reforms and their revenue gathering from students credits in a contradictory neo-liberal policy context.