Autonomy in the global era: Euro-regionalism and new policy spaces in education

Laura C. EngelInternational Education Program

The George Washington UniversityWashington DC

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Overview of the paperPresents recent research in Spain

Why Spain? Dominant frameworks: Nation state and education policy formationHow the study was framed

Development of new policy spaces in educationDevolutionary processes/New regionalisms (“from below”)Europeanization (“from above”)

In context of recent growth in transnational migration: Exploration of whether new spaces of education hold particular consequences for non-European immigrants.

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My Research and the Case of Spain

Why Spain?Politics of educational reform in 1980s and 90s (Chicago)

Spain: A “miracle model”

Nation state transformation: Rebirth of Spanish state

Studies show policy being produced in self-contained, sealed off space

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Globalization and Nation State Transformation

Globalization as “planet speak”

Globalization and the nation state:

“Simply the intensification of global interconnectedness [which] is transforming the existing world order most conspicuously through its challenge to the primacy of the nation-state in its present form.”

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Dominant frameworks:Weak-state theories: retreat and erosion (Strange, 1996)

Strong-state theories: rejuvenation (Hirst & Thompson, 1996)

State-centrism/methodological nationalism “the assumption that the nation/state/society is the natural social and political form of the modern world” (Wimmer & Schiller, 2002)

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Nation State Transformation (Dominant Frameworks)

Nation State Transformation (Dominant Frameworks)

GlobalizationGlobal-National (zero-sum game)

Binary oppositions• Cosmopolitanism vs. localism; Unity vs. diversity;

Universalism vs. particularity; Weak-state vs. strong-state

Assumptions• All power rests in “center”• Governments as sole actors• “Internal” national politics as fixed

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Setting the Context (Spain)

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Francoist Spain (40 provinces) Post-Franco Spain (17 CCAA)

Setting the Context (Catalonia)

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Research and New Policy Spaces (views)

Policy as a process (Taylor et al., 1997)

Policy not separate from context. Rather context is terrain from which policy problems are developed and understood (Ozga, 2000)

Initial stages of context, policy influences and pressures, policy negotiation, and the production of policy.

Education policy is a lens into dynamic and complex changes

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Research Questions and Methods

Key questions:In what ways has democratization of the post-Franco era influenced education policy formation in Spain and Catalonia?

What is the relationship between EU integration and education policy formation in Spain and Catalonia? How are global and European policy pressures negotiated and produced at regional and national levels?

Empirical work (2005-2008): Barcelona, Madrid, and Brussels

• Interviews (policy-makers, government officials)• Key policy documents

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Nation State Transformation: “From Below”

Paper discusses the example of the revision of the Statute of Autonomy in Catalonia as a process which has continued to deepen regional autonomy against what the government has referred to as “new times and new challenges”

It is first significant to outline the role of regions in the process of devolution.

Nation State Transformation: “From Below”

Stage Category CCAA First (1979-1980) “Historical nations” Catalonia, Basque

Country**   Second (1981-1992) Grade One “Fast Track” Andalusia, Canary Islands, Valencia, Galicia, Navarre  Third (1992-2000) Grade Two “Slow Track” Aragón, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León,

Extremadura, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia 

** Key in initial and continued process of decentralization. 12

New Policy Spaces “From Below”

Shifts in nation-state and policy driven “from below”

Deepened autonomy through devolutionary processes

Reformed Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (2006)• Original Statute of Autonomy (1979)

• 2003-2004: New regional and national gov’ts.

• “these are new times, new challenges, new Statute”

• Contentious processes in revision process: “Nation” and Catalan as official language.

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New Policy Spaces “From Above” and “From Below”

Intersection of regional, central state, European scalesRegions continue to assert themselves in policy arenas “above” the nation state Scale-jumping

EU’s vision of regions and regional governance as way forward in construction of Europe

Role of regions in European integration

Overlap of regional, central state, European scales: Conception of citizenship

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New Policy Spaces: Governance & Citizenship

Catalonia, Spain and Europe:A conception of the ideal citizen as flexible, multilingual, accepts broader European ideals of democracy and has a plural sense of belonging which embraces the local, regional, central state and the European.

New policy on curriculum illustrates shift away national citizenship toward an image of Spain as a multicultural, democratic, modern European state.

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New Policy Spaces: Transnational Migration

Yet, in the embodiment of these values and in context of deepened autonomy, it is significant to critically examine how non-European immigrants are reflected.

Immigration (Spain)1998: 3.2% of total population foreign born

2006: 11.9% of total population foreign born

2009: roughly 4.5 million immigrants (15% of total population)

Large proportion considered non-European

Public discourse, legislation, immigration policy: “immigrant problem” and a “matter of war” (Agrela, 2002)

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New Policy Spaces: Transnational Migration

As Spanish state transformed in relation to pressures from below (devolution) and from above (Europeanization), new educational legislation aims to promote the creation of a multicultural and multiscalar society.

Conception of “ideal citizen” limited to three spaces: the Autonomous Community, the nation-state, and Europe.

Diversity is acceptable in these three spaces, but only in relation to European “natives”

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ConclusionBeyond methodological nationalism to present a perspective of continued development of overlapping spaces in education: regional, central state, European.

21st century global world, state autonomy in relation to education policy increasingly influenced by range of pressures

Devolution and Europeanization: supranational scale legitimizes regional nationalism (reforming governance and citizenship).

National citizenship replaced by “ideal citizen” (highly exclusive and limited)

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Thank you.

Questions?

Additional slides

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Methods

Barcelona, Madrid and Brussels:

+ 35 Interviews with various ‘system actors’ including policy-makers and government officials.

Documents from all three sites were also collected and analyzed, which became a major source of rich data. Policy documents were collected from sources from the period of 1979 to 2006, including European Commission, Committee of the Regions, regional Catalan office in Brussels, the Generalitat and Department of Education in Barcelona, and the Ministry of Education and Science in Madrid.

Source: (map) S. Solberg

European Union Enlargement: 1957 - 2007

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Nation, state, nation-state and national state used in numerous and often ambiguous ways to denote territory or land, institutions and government (with particular administrative and legislative responsibilities) and individual, group and community belonging.

‘State’: Government’s administrative and legislative powers

‘Nation’: Group or community with shared cultural, linguistic, historical and ethnic identities, as an ‘imagined community’ (Anderson 1983)

‘Nation-state’: Assumes a defined and demarcated territory, which contains a singular people united by a common language, religion and culture

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Center-Periphery Framework

Global-Nation State or Europe-Nation State

Framework

Global/Europe

Dominant Frameworks (in study of education policy spaces)