Full Description
Social Citizenship in the Shadow of Competition explores how economic concepts and tools are reshaping regulatory law. Building on studies that link law - both institutionally and discursively - to the legitimation of economic neo-liberalism, the book charts lawmakers' attempts to justify social welfare regulation in the language imposed by economic theory. It presents new qualitative findings from an ambitious regulatory reform programme targeting over 1,700 pieces of legislation. Bronwen Morgan argues that the interplay between economic discourse and lawmaking does not destroy the possibility of social citizenship; however, the subsequent regulatory conversations frequently silence or weaken the claims of vulnerable groups. Thus, even when vulnerable groups secure instrumental success, economic conceptions of bureaucratic rationality impoverish their capacity to express certain kinds of intangible values and aspirations. To expand or retain social citizenship requires that we learn to conceive of what matters in political economy without relying on the logic of utility or other instrumental rationalities.
Contents
Contents: Introduction; Economic adjudication and the rule of law; Public law and political economy in the Australian administrative state; The contested terrain of regulatory conversation; Agenda-setting and bureaucratic politics; Implementation in competition's shadow; Technocratic citizenship; Appendices: Competition principles agreement; Conduct code agreement; Agreement to implement the national competition policy and related reforms; Bibliography; Index.
