Neoliberalism as settler colonialism: Elizabeth Strakosch, Neoliberal Indigenous Policy: Settler Colonialism and the ‘Post-Welfare’ State, Palgrave, 2015 | settler colonial studies blog

Neoliberalism as settler colonialism: Elizabeth Strakosch, Neoliberal Indigenous Policy: Settler Colonialism and the ‘Post-Welfare’ State, Palgrave, 2015

15Nov15

Description: This book explores the changing dynamics of Indigenous policy in English-speaking settler states. Such policy is slowly moving away from a self-determination paradigm, conditioned by a post-war social liberal vision of an enfolding state that secures citizen entitlements. New policies, rather, reflect neoliberal logics in their focus on economic mainstreaming, community ‘dysfunction’ and individual opportunity. Through a case study of Australian policy between 2000 and 2007, this book traces these policy shifts. It examines the federal dismantling of the official self-determination and reconciliation policy framework, and analyses policy experiments with voluntaristic contracts and coercive crisis intervention. It argues that neoliberal policies are creating a newly flexible relationship between inclusion in and exclusion from liberal citizenship regimes, and are altering the terms of Indigenous-settler political interaction. This book therefore challenges mainstream approaches to public policy since it locates domestic Indigenous policy in settler states as a crucial but often neglected site of political encounter and sovereign negotiation.

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