Neoliberalisation, fast policy transfer and the management of labor market services

Journal article


Nunn, Alex 2019. Neoliberalisation, fast policy transfer and the management of labor market services. Review of International Political Economy. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2019.1625424
AuthorsNunn, Alex
Abstract

Neoliberalism has been a core concern for IPE for several decades, but is often ill-defined. Research offering greater definitional clarity stresses the role of contingent and local level factors in diverse processes of neoliberalisation. This paper contributes to that literature, addressing a surprising gap in critical IPE knowledge; the management practices by which pressures to activate the unemployed and to make them more competitive, are implemented. The paper suggests that performance management, is significant as both a depoliticising policy coordination mechanism and a highly politicised policy implementation practice. The paper invokes a scalar-relational approach which sees the pressure to innovate and compete at lower scales as driven by the political economy of competitiveness at the system scale. The paper reports on research undertaken within the empirical frame of EU meta-governance, showing how performance management is part of lower-scale attempts to adapt to system-scale pressures. It is neoliberalising in both form and content. It concludes by showing that while performance management may be a significant component of neoliberalisation there is scope for engagement and contestation motivated by egalitarian ideals. Critical IPE scholars interested in contesting neoliberalisation should therefore engage with the political economy of management practice as well as policy design.

KeywordsNeoliberalism; Management pressures; Performance management; Policy implementation; Fast policy; Management; Public Employment Services; Active Labour Market Policies; Workfare
Year2019
JournalReview of International Political Economy
PublisherTaylor & Francis
ISSN09692290
14664526
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2019.1625424
Web address (URL)http://hdl.handle.net/10545/623957
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
hdl:10545/623957
Publication dates27 Jun 2019
Publication process dates
Deposited03 Jul 2019, 08:15
Accepted28 May 2019
Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

ContributorsUniversity of Derby
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