Capturing the Academy: Australian higher learning and the exceptional powers of the regulatory state

Abstract

The state derives its power from a claim to a monopoly on sanctioned violence, while the academy derives symbolic power by virtue of its grasp of universal human values and accepted truths, made potent by the fact that it can then speak to the legitimate claims of the state. This relationship has been fundamental to the rise and success of the secular state; however, it also generates endless border conflict, and much ambiguity, especially within pluralist democratic systems where the lines of institutional demarcation are unclear. This leads to the proposition that when the state becomes oligarchic, or inward looking, it will invariably seek to contain and capture the academy, seeking to exploit its instrumental value, rather than drawing upon its symbolic value. This results in the need for an organisational 'buffer', or intermediary, to stand between the state and institutions of higher learning. This paper tests this hypothesis by examining the changing relations between the state and higher education in Australia since major reforms began, and particularly during the Howard years. It argues that the nation's experiment, in abolishing the intermediary, has yielded predictable results.