How and Why the European Commission Has Acquired the Right to Vote in a Europeanization Process in a Field of National Competency

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the Bologna process that draws from Foucault's theory. It starts with the idea that the Bologna process is founded on an "efficiency" framework, which defines the possible actions of time and shapes the future. Through this efficiency episteme, one can understand the transformation of the European university from its original humanist tradition to its current utilitarian orientation. This episteme also serves to increase the legitimacy of the European Commission as it seeks to intervene ever more instrumentally in the higher education policies of Europe. The Commission has attempted since the 1950s to take control of educational policies and to make its actions appear clear in this field. The Bologna process presents a new mode of governmentality by which the Commission uses diverse techniques to make the actors realize European integration in this higher education field.The first part of this article focuses on the objectives and orientations of the process. The second part explains why the process was originally initiated. By mobilizing the concepts of episteme and legitimacy, this part focuses on the role of the European Commission in the process and explains why it has Sarah Croché is a researcher at the Catholic University of Mons and member of GReSAS. Her current research bears on educational policies, particularly the influence of international organizations on education and training systems, with a special focus on the Bologna process.Translated by Mee-Youn Croché.

Policy Governance without Government in European Higher Education

“…Governance, however, is not bound to any state authority, but is based on material conditions that set the rules of the conduct of conduct and maintain order: 'It might even be said that governance is order plus intentionality', when 'global order consists of those routinised arrangements through which world politics gets from one moment in time to the next' (Rosenau, 1992, p. 5). Recently, several authors have used the notion of governmentality and governance in analysis of the BP, while also describing its neo-liberal affiliations (Liesner, 2007;Croche, 2008;Fejes, 2008;Kupfer, 2008). However, the use of the terms in combination to support analytical appreciation has not been extensive.…”