Anders Esmark
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781529200874
- eISBN:
- 9781529200898
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529200874.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Setting a new benchmark for studies of technocracy, the book shows that a solution to the challenge of populism will depend as much on a technocratic retreat as democratic innovation. Esmark examines ...
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Setting a new benchmark for studies of technocracy, the book shows that a solution to the challenge of populism will depend as much on a technocratic retreat as democratic innovation. Esmark examines the development since the 1980s of a new 'post-industrial' technocratic regime and its complicity in the populist backlash against politics and political elites that is visible today. The new technocracy – a combination of network governance, risk management and performance management – has, the author argues, abandoned the overtly anti-democratic sentiments of its industrial predecessor and proclaimed a new partnership with democracy. The rise of populism, however, is a clear sign that the inherent problems of this partnership have been exposed and that technocracy posing as democracy will only serve to exacerbate existing problems.Less
Setting a new benchmark for studies of technocracy, the book shows that a solution to the challenge of populism will depend as much on a technocratic retreat as democratic innovation. Esmark examines the development since the 1980s of a new 'post-industrial' technocratic regime and its complicity in the populist backlash against politics and political elites that is visible today. The new technocracy – a combination of network governance, risk management and performance management – has, the author argues, abandoned the overtly anti-democratic sentiments of its industrial predecessor and proclaimed a new partnership with democracy. The rise of populism, however, is a clear sign that the inherent problems of this partnership have been exposed and that technocracy posing as democracy will only serve to exacerbate existing problems.
Anders Esmark
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781529200874
- eISBN:
- 9781529200898
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781529200874.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
The chapter takes up the technocratic preoccupation with quantification, measurement and scientific politics. While this is a consistent feature of technocratic governance, the proliferation of ...
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The chapter takes up the technocratic preoccupation with quantification, measurement and scientific politics. While this is a consistent feature of technocratic governance, the proliferation of performance management, accountability and evaluation systems, evidence-based policy and experimental learning also reflect a new commitment to radical incrementalism and a ‘what works’ approach, which is significantly different from earlier and industrial technocracy. The chapter illustrates the implications of this development in the cases of experimental EU governance and nudging interventions.Less
The chapter takes up the technocratic preoccupation with quantification, measurement and scientific politics. While this is a consistent feature of technocratic governance, the proliferation of performance management, accountability and evaluation systems, evidence-based policy and experimental learning also reflect a new commitment to radical incrementalism and a ‘what works’ approach, which is significantly different from earlier and industrial technocracy. The chapter illustrates the implications of this development in the cases of experimental EU governance and nudging interventions.
Patrick L. J. Bailey and Stephen J. Ball
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781447324560
- eISBN:
- 9781447324584
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447324560.003.0006
- Subject:
- Education, Educational Policy and Politics
This chapter provides an overview of coalition government education policy, focusing on compulsory education in England. It also highlights the relationships between coalition policy and that of the ...
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This chapter provides an overview of coalition government education policy, focusing on compulsory education in England. It also highlights the relationships between coalition policy and that of the Conservative government elected in 2015.
The chapter notes areas of both continuity and change with the direction set under new Labour, with the coalition both building on Labour’s policies but also shifting the rhetorical and discursive problem-space of policy. It examines education policy in relation to areas such as the curriculum, academisation and free schools, and the Pupil Premium, as well as performance management, and concludes that Conservative education policy rests on a ‘messy’ combination of regulation, competition and performance management.Less
This chapter provides an overview of coalition government education policy, focusing on compulsory education in England. It also highlights the relationships between coalition policy and that of the Conservative government elected in 2015.
The chapter notes areas of both continuity and change with the direction set under new Labour, with the coalition both building on Labour’s policies but also shifting the rhetorical and discursive problem-space of policy. It examines education policy in relation to areas such as the curriculum, academisation and free schools, and the Pupil Premium, as well as performance management, and concludes that Conservative education policy rests on a ‘messy’ combination of regulation, competition and performance management.
