Knowledge and Its Enemies: Towards a New Case for Higher Learning

This work reveals the fraught nature of the relationship between the academy and the state in order to provide a more coherent framework for thinking about the way in which universities, and academic activities in general, are best organized and regulated. It uses extensive historical case analysis based on the emergence of the nation state and the academy in Europe, along with very focused case material examining events in Australia within the context of developments in international education, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. The study of higher education and the role of universities in society invariably falls among the disciplines of public policy, higher education, and philosophy, but these very different perspectives offer conflicting narratives and inadequate solutions to current problems. This work redefines the parameters of these historic debates and brings together, for the first time, trends in thinking about the changing role of the nation state with major developments within higher education around the globe. More importantly, it develops a very robust theoretical approach to the way in which higher learning is understood, offering important new insights into the legitimizing role of the academy. Drawing on a wealth of historical and current empirical evidence, this book presents a powerful argument that universities are foremost civil institutions, not unlike parliament or the judiciary. Their broad purpose, as the crucibles and legislatures of advancing human technology, cannot be understated. They make up a large part of the ballast that allows the democratic state to function properly. Unlike many other critiques of academic capitalism, this work does not wholly reject the use of the market to help organize universities; however, it does provide an overarching framework through which the role of the market and its influence on the state might be properly considered. As national governments and policy makers all around the world struggle to finance the massive demand in higher education, this work provides a timely and penetrating analysis.