HOW GLOBALIZATION DRIVES
THE HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY
OF THE STATE
Dr. Tien-Hui Chiang
DR. TIEN-HUI CHIANG

Professor & Chairperson
Department of Education,
National University of Tainan

thchiang@mail.nutn.edu.tw
OUTLINE OF TODAY’S SPEECH
The Political Functions of the
State
The Influence of Globalization on
the State
The New Higher Educational
Policy of the State
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION 1/3

Some key sociologists, such as A. Gramsci and
M. Foucault, tend to view the state as a passive
tool, serving the interests of dominant groups.
Such perspectives tend to underestimate the
positive functions of the state.
INTRODUCTION 2/3

In contrast, C. Offe believes that internal
rationalization will maximize the positive
functions of bureaucracy. Although such a
viewpoint is able to fill the gap noted above, the
influence of globalization has not been taken
into account.
INTRODUCTION 3/3

This essay intends to profile the relationships
between globalization and the state. A further
intention is to identify ways in which
globalization drives the higher educational
policy of the state.
THE POLITICAL FUNCTIONS OF THE STATE



The Theory of A. Gramsci
The Theory of M. Foucault
The Theory of C. Offe
THE THEORY OF A. GRAMSCI 1/3

Gramsci (1971) argued that social control is not
mainly reliant upon coercive force, termed as
political society, but upon social consensus,
termed as civil society. This is because values
are the main force that drives people’s behavior.
THE THEORY OF A. GRAMSCI 2/3

Furthermore, values are normally embedded
within social cultures. Immersed within such a
context, people will be effectively socialized to
internalize those values. As a result, most
people view social cultures as normal and, thus,
lose their critical consciousness. Therefore, in
order to maintain the governance of ruling
classes, they need to establish the mechanism
of cultural hegemony.
THE THEORY OF A. GRAMSCI 3/3

This connection indicates that the culture is
able to reshape the public’s philosophy of life
and, thus, make them subject to its domination.
Furthermore, the state in temporary society
behaves as an educator.
THE THEORY OF M. FOUCAULT 1/2

Foucault (1972) argues that for doing social control a
more effective method needs to be employed, which is
to construct social discourse which functions to
cultivate people with certain forms of ideas and
values. This cultivation intends to hatch people into
‘docile bodies’ who view the existing social institutes
as a natural and inevitable result and, then, willingly
take the instructions of ruling groups (Foucault, 1991).
THE THEORY OF M. FOUCAULT 2/2


The close connection between ideas and docile bodies
indicates that social discourse serves as a key means
for dominant groups to achieve social control.
What Foucault emphasizes is that the system of social
institutes actively constructs and transmits dominant
concepts in order to regulate people’s behaviors
naturally.
THE THEORY OF A. GRAMSCI & M. FOUCAULT
state =passive tool
 state as a device, serving the interests of
dominant classes
 The above analysis shows that A. Gramsci and
M. Foucault tend to view the state as a device,
serving the interests of dominant classes.
Therefore, in the eyes of those two scholars,
the state is pictured as a passive tool without a
neutral position or positive functions.

THE THEORY OF C. OFFE
positive functions of the state
 internal rationalization

THE THEORY OF C. OFFE 1/2
C. Offe (1985a) intends to highlight the positive
functions of the state. Borrowing concepts from
some key sociologists, such as T. Parsons and
M. Weber, Offe developed the notion of internal
rationalization with a functional orientation.
 Internal rationalization refers to the idea that
civil servants in the bureaucratic system will be
loyal to their duties rather than defer to the
interests of dominant classes.

THE THEORY OF C. OFFE 2/2


What civil servants are concerned with is to benefit
the majority of people. Because the relevant policies
that they introduce are able to enlarge the scope of
economic activities, this change inevitably brings a
side effect – that capitalists gain more profit.
If they cannot be loyal to their legitimate obligations,
the state will fail to implement its role, and, thus,
people’s trust in the state will collapse. This situation
will jeopardize the operation of the state and, thus,
result in the generation of social chaos.
THE ISSUE OF GLOBALIZATION

Although Offe’s argument is able to fill the gap
in the theories of Gramsci and Foucault, his
functional-oriented perspective doesn’t take
the issue of globalization into account.
Globalization has had a profound influence on
the reshaping of new relationships among
countries.
GLOBALIZATION AND THE STATE
Backgrounds
 The Influence of Globalization on the State

BACKGROUNDS: EMERGENCE OF GLOBALIZATION
70s
oil crisis
BACKGROUNDS: OIL CRISIS

It has been argued that the emergence of
globalization can be traced back to the oil crisis
in 1970s, which put the issue of natural
resources onto the political agenda and also
made regional conflict a world issue.
BACKGROUNDS: EMERGENCE OF GLOBALIZATION
1975-1985
global market
70s
oil crisis
BACKGROUNDS: GLOBAL MARKET

This change further instituted the formation of a new
political context from 1979 to 1985 in which
industrialized societies realized that cooperation
rather than competition was the way to produce more
profit. This new value has driven most advanced
societies to devote themselves to exporting, and, has
further significantly expanded the size of the global
market.
BACKGROUNDS: EMERGENCE OF GLOBALIZATION
70s
oil crisis
80s
deficit budget
policy of the
U.S.
1990
entry of
former
socialist
countries
BACKGROUNDS: 1980
This market has been further enlarged by the entry of
former socialist countries from 1990. Another critical
factor to brew the development of globalization
derived from the deficit budget policy in America since
the 1980s, which has gradually opened a large
international market for the flow of capital.
CAPITALISM
For whatever reasons, the key force to move
globalization forwards is capitalism. The world
system tends to be associated with capitalism
(Wallerstein, 2004).
 As Wallerstain (2004) argued, in order to
realize this intention, the most advanced
country, the USA, has been proactive in
exporting the ideas and values of globalization
to imported countries.

EXPANSION OF GLOBAL CAPITALISM

Therefore, in order to swell the size of the
global market, individual countries need to
recognize the value and importance of
globalization. The first step concerns schooling.
In doing this, America has become a
transnational corporation to facilitate the
expansion of global capitalism:
GLOBAL CAPITALISM& INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES

It has been argued that in order to achieve this
intention, some regional and international
agencies have been created (Robertson, Bonal
and Dale, 2006).
INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES: OECD

The Organization for European Economic
Cooperation (OECD), for example, was originally
entitled the Marshall Program in 1961 and was
created for the purpose of reconstructing the
collapsed economy in Europe after the Second
World War (Rizvi and Lingard, 2006). Because
the USA has been its largest sponsor, America
is able to manipulate the direction of the OECD.
INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES:
WORLD BANK AND THE IMF

Initially, the operation of the World Bank and the IMF
were based on the philosophy of John Maynard
Keynes, who argues that governments cannot utilize
monetary policy to deal with recessions and
unacceptable unemployment rates, but instead must
employ fiscal policies, either by increasing expenditure
or cutting taxes. However, the World Bank and the IMF
began to adopt a free market ideology in the 1980s
when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were in
power.
INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES:
WORLD BANK AND THE IMF

Because developing countries were always in need of
help, these countries were generally subject to the
imperialistic instructions of international institutions,
such as the IMF and the World Back (Stiglitz, 2002),
whose philosophy, the ideology of the free market,
tended to buttress the domination of globalization
THE INFLUENCE OF GLOBALIZATION ON THE STATE



erode the authority of states - Giddens (1990)
injure the national identity - (Dale, 2003; Schriewer,
2003)
imported countries adopt strategies of localization in
order to gain capitalist profit and to avoid cultural
invasion (Dale, 2003; Schriewer, 2003).
GLOBALIZATION


As the above analysis shows, globalization has
become a dominant mode directing the world
economic system. The world market has been
gradually integrated into the mode of globalization.
This development allows the market to enlarge its size
significantly, and, thus, create a tremendous amount
of profit, which is what capitalists are most concerned
about. This considerable amount of profit tends to
leave most states with no choice but to accept the
rules of globalization (Dale, 2003).
ECONOMIC & POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION

In pursuing this economic target, the states need to
adjust themselves in order to meet the demands of
this new system. Generally speaking, they abandon
control over the tax policies for imported goods. This
phenomenon also projects an impression that
globalization has extended its influence from the
economic field to the political one.
ERODE THE AUTHORITY OF STATES


As Giddens (1990) argues, traditionally, sovereignty
was mainly reliant upon the boundaries between
countries. However, globalization is able to blur such
boundaries and, thus, erode the authority of states:
Giddens further points out that this political crisis
normally fuses the states that lose autonomy into
regional bodies. Such an argument coincides with the
development of regional unions. The European Union
(EU), for example, projects this phenomenon.
LOCALIZATION

Another trend, stimulated by globalization, is
localization. Globalization normally facilitates the
ability of its advocators, usually Western states, to
export their ideas and values to imported countries.
This situation will jeopardize the mother cultures of
the imported countries and, thus, injure the national
identity of their citizens (Dale, 2003; Schriewer, 2003).
LOCALIZATION

However, it has also been argued that these
imported countries are not so passive, and
adopt strategies of localization in order to gain
capitalist profit and to avoid this cultural
invasion (Dale, 2003; Schriewer, 2003).
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE
globalization
academic
capitalism
reinforce the
socializing function
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE

Unlike the traditional mode of production,
globalization emphasizes creativity, based on
knowledge. This characteristic not only moves
societies into a knowledge-based structure, but also
requires them to initiate a new direction in higher
education, which is the main avenue for the delivery of
knowledge (Stromquist, 2002).
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE

This connection is reinforced by international
institutions that, as noted previously, firmly espouse
the ideology of globalization, a free market. It has
been argued that in terms of this transmission, the
OECD is particularly active (Morrow and Torres, 2000;
Rizvi and Lingard, 2006).
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE

Initially, the OECD focused on the economy. Later,
however, education became its central agenda. Its
assumption is that higher education institutes are the
main base for enhancing the quality of human capital,
which in turn is the main force driving the economic
development of a country. Therefore, the OECD is
committed to persuading its members to have more
capital investment in higher education.
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE

Furthermore, the OECD has been convinced by its
senior administers, who were mainly recruited from
the financial institutes in the Wall Street and persist in
the philosophy of neo-liberalism, that a free market is
able to promote competitiveness. The idea of free
market also means that governmental intervention
needs to be minimized. Therefore, neo-liberalism has
gradually changed the higher educational policy of the
OECD’s members, shifting the agenda from social
justice to free market.
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE


The concept of new managerialism replaces the old
one, equity, and dominates higher educational policies
of member countries:
For advocators of neo-liberalism, privatization is the
key way to achieve the devolution that further creates
the mechanism of new managerialism, and ensures
the effectiveness and competitiveness of higher
education. Furthermore, as privatization legitimizes
the intrusion of enterprise on education, private
managerialism becomes a dogmatic principle for
running public universities.
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE

Morrow and Torres (2000) argue that inevitably, the
force of globalization will remold the functions and
characteristics of higher education. Its ideology of free
market creates a legitimate platform for the
introduction of privatization, the rational mechanism
of which will tend to transform higher education into
“academic capitalism”.
THE NEW HIGHER EDUCATIONAL POLICY OF THE STATE

On the other hand, in order to protect the national
identity of their citizens, the states normally initiate
the strategy of localization. This vital mission is
generally reliant upon education (Green, 2006),
because schools are the main base for conducting
socialization (Parsons, 1961). Therefore, the states
will reinforce the socializing function of higher
education by introducing more relevant courses in a
liberal education curriculum.
CONCLUSION: NEO-LIBERALISM


All these relationships show how globalization can
drive the higher education policy of the state because
of the considerable profits that are at stake.
The philosophy of the free market creates relevant
perfect concepts, such as competitiveness and
efficiency. These concepts are able to transform neoliberalism, the key spirit of globalization, into a world
value.
CONCLUSION: PRIVATIZATION


The mixture of this material orientation and the new
value tends to produce a synthesis that rationalizes
globalization as a natural form to regulate the daily life
of people.
Privatization becomes the best choice to run
universities. This situation will commercialize the
market of higher education.
CONCLUSION


It would be anticipated that the states become
effective implementers to achieve this mission,
pressuring higher education to move from a cultural
form to an academic/commercial synthesis.
This synthesis will require universities to transform
themselves into flexible creatures with commercial
souls in order to meet the demands of globalization.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Q&A
 Please feel free to contact me:
Dr. Tien-Hui Chiang
thchiang@mail.nutn.edu.tw
