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Constitutionalizing Austerity: Taking the Public out of Public Policy
Author(s) -
McBride Stephen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
global policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1758-5899
pISSN - 1758-5880
DOI - 10.1111/1758-5899.12271
Subject(s) - austerity , realm , politics , constitutionalism , democracy , corporate governance , political science , power (physics) , public policy , public administration , political economy , economics , law , management , physics , quantum mechanics
Nothwithstanding their failure to achieve stated objectives, austerity policies have been pursued with persistence. Rather than failures prompting reconsideration, there is a clear trend to render austerity policies a permanent, constitutionalized response to economic challenges ‘for all seasons’. This article links the drive to austerity with the ‘new constitutionalism’ literature which depicts procedurally the removal of important decisions from the realm of liberal democratic politics and their re‐location behind impenetrable and unaccountable barriers; and, in terms of content, embed neoliberal practices and policies, and the power relations that underpin them, as ‘normal’. This takes the public out of public policy making with negative consequences for democratic governance.