NEOLIBERAL GLOBALISM AND THE LOCAL STATE: A Regulation Approach

Over the past decade or more, Australian state governments have adopted, to different degrees, neoliberal policies. As in other countries, these policies have quite dramatically increased social and economic inequalities and frequently produced ‘fractured local economies, disempowered regions and fragmented local cultures ’ (Amin 1994:27). However, state political leaders have argued that the emergence of a very different global economic environment in the wake of global restructuring leaves no alternative to such a shift. Worldwide, a powerful coalition of global corporations, right wing economists, international credit rating agencies and international political institutions has promoted neoliberalism as the only viable framework for the successful transition to a restructured economy and economic regeneration. While proponents of neoliberalism have focused attention on restructuring the nation state, they have also regarded it important to restructure the policies of the state at the local level as well. 1 The message of neoliberalism has been that the rapid globalisation of the world economy has made it imperative that, in order to survive, local 1 Australia has three levels of government – national, state and ‘local’. However, ‘local ’ governments in Australia have very limited resources and policy responsibilities. ‘State ’ governments, on the other hand, influence some of the nation’s key regulatory arrangements affecting both capital accumulation and social reproduction. Consequently, political economy debates about the nature and role of the ‘local state ’ most aptly apply to the ‘state ’ level in the Australian context