A legitimate paradox : neo-liberal reform and the return of the state in Korea

This article examines the neo-liberal reforms that the Kim government implemented in post-crisis Korea. It argues that by embracing the reforms, the state, paradoxically, re-legitimised itself in the national political economy. The process of enacting the reforms completed the power shift from a collusive state-chaebol alliance towards a new alliance based on a more populist social contract - but one that nonetheless generally conformed to the tenets of neo-liberalism. Kim and his closest associates identified the malpractices of the chaebols as the main cause of the crisis, so reforming the chaebols would be the key to economic recovery. Combining populism and neo-liberalism, they drew on support from both domestic and international sources to rein in, rather than nurture, the chaebols. <br />

Constructing inclusive education in a neo-liberal context : promoting inclusion of Arab-Australian students in an Australian context

School systems are a major social change agent capable of challenging social inequalities and economic disadvantages. Yet, while schools in Australia are being confronted with increasingly culturally diverse populations as well as an increasing focus on student retention, this transformative role is increasingly being played out in a broader educational context that has been found to replicate rather than challenge patterns of social inequality. Successive governments in Australia have responded to this context with a raft of policy initiatives. This paper, based on three-year longitudinal research undertaken in the city of Melbourne, outlines this policy context and introduces the theoretical approach that underpins its innovative approach to managing cultural diversity in educational institutions. It argues for, and presents, a multidimensional model for managing cultural diversity in schools, one that provides the tools for transformative practices to be undertaken to effect positive change in school environments for the benefit of all students.<br />

Authentically assessing graduate teaching: outside and beyond neo-liberal constructs

In this paper, we challenge the current focus on &lsquo;best practice&rsquo;, graduate teacher tests, and student test scores as the panacea for ensuring teaching quality and argue for ways of thinking about evidence of quality beginning teaching outside and beyond the current neoliberal accountability discourses circulating in Australia and other countries. We suggest that teacher educators need to reinsert themselves as key players in the debates around quality beginning teaching, rather than being viewed as a source of the problem. To enable teacher educators to assume accountability for quality beginning teachers, we propose the framework of a capstone teacher performance assessment&mdash;a structured portfolio called the Authentic Teacher Assessment (ATA)&mdash; and examine examples of these assessments through the lens of critical discourse analysis. As a measure of &lsquo;readiness to teach&rsquo;, the ATA is compared with supervising teachers&rsquo; assessments of preservice teachers. We argue that structured portfolios that include artefacts derived from preservice teachers&rsquo; practice in classrooms along with graduate teacher self assessments provide a stronger accountability measure of effec- tive beginning teaching and demonstrably address the current anxiety regarding &lsquo;evi- dence&rsquo;. We suggest that such an approach should be reliable enough to be &lsquo;read&rsquo; by external assessors (and moderated across other teacher education institutions). Rigor- ous research on a national basis is called for in order to develop and implement a structured portfolio as rich evidence of graduates&rsquo; quality and readiness to teach.

The failures of neo-liberal state building in Iraq: assessing Australia's post-conflict reconstruction and development Initiatives

This article examines Australia's post-conflict reconstruction and development initiatives in Iraq following the intervention of 2003. Overall, it finds that Australia privileged the neo-liberal model of post-conflict state building by investing in projects that would enhance the capacity of the new Iraqi state, its key institutions and the private sector towards the imposition of a liberal democracy and a free-market economy. To demonstrate, this article documents the failures of the Australian government's stated aims to &quot;support agriculture&quot; and &quot;support vulnerable populations&quot; via interviews conducted in Iraq with rural farmers and tribal members and those working in, or the beneficiaries of, Iraq's disability sector. It concludes by noting that such failures are not only indicative of the inadequacy of the neo-liberal state building model, but also that these failures point the way forward for future post-conflict reconstruction and development projects which ought to be premised on a genuine and sustained commitment to addressing the needs of those made most vulnerable by war and regime change.

Fabricating an identity in neo-liberal times: performing schooling as ���number one���

This paper presents interview data from a case study of &lsquo;Lemontyne College&rsquo;; a large government school situated in a &lsquo;master planned community&rsquo; (MPC) in Australia. The paper draws on Ball&rsquo;s (2003) theorising of performativity and fabrication to analyse this school&rsquo;s take up of the status���oriented corporate discourses of performance, competition and accountability. This theorising brings to light the ways in which the managerial processes at the school, driven by the administration&rsquo;s embracing of these discourses, shape Lemontyne into an auditable commodity and fabricate an identity around being &lsquo;number 1&rsquo;. The paper highlights the lack of authenticity of this fabrication by drawing attention to its careful and deliberate construction. Our focus here is on the surveillance and accountability measures required to discipline teachers into this performative sociality and on the alternative reality articulated by teachers in terms of their resistance to this sociality. To these ends, the paper highlights how Lemontyne&rsquo;s embracing of performative discourses results in a de���socialisation of schooling relations. We propose that such de���socialisation compromises efforts in schools to respond productively to social change and in particular to the new equity challenges arising in contexts such as Lemontyne situated in a MPC.

Global social justice at the WTO? The role of NGOs in constructing global social contracts

Over the past decade, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been contesting the neo-liberal economic order in international politics by campaigning for normative conditions to bring about what Richard Falk calls 'humane governance'. However, the degree to which NGOs have contributed to the formation of global social contracts remains controversial. While NGO activists and various scholars advocate the establishment of such contracts, empirical testing of this normative argument is underdeveloped. Drawing upon this lack of empirical support, critics dismiss the global social contract concept and question the roles played by NGOs in international politics. This article addresses the controversy through a review, refinement and application of global social contract theory and an empirical study of two prominent international NGO campaigns directed at the World Trade Organization (WTO), an institution that represents a 'hard test case'. It explores the ways in which NGOs and their networks are challenging the neo-liberal basis of WTO agreements and contributing to the emergence of global social contracts. The article concludes that in some circumstances, NGOs have the capacity to inject social justice into international economic contracts and there is some basis for optimism regarding the formation of global social contracts involving NGOs, nation-states and international organizations.<br />

Multiple informal imperial connections and the transfer of accountancy to Ethiopia (1905 to 2011)

The accounting history literature expounds the role of imperial connection on the transfer of Western accountancy concepts and practices to developing countries. An emerging theme within this literature is the shift in imperial power from Britain to USA over the last century and the ramifications of this shift on accountancy globally. Using a framework developed by prior research for investigating the transfer of accountancy across countries, this study examines historical developments of accounting practice, education and professional training in Ethiopia (from 1905 to 2011) in the light of the country&rsquo;s interactions with Britain and the USA. These interactions facilitated Ethiopia&rsquo;s continued importation of British accountancy practice and professional training contemporaneously with importation of accounting education from the USA. Over the past two decades, Ethiopia has been undertaking accounting reforms as part of economic policy reforms in pursuit of neo-liberal economic ideals. In response to shifting priorities of transnational actors, Ethiopia continued trialling policy initiatives that are yet to yield a stable equilibrium with coherent links of accounting education, practice and professional training.