1.6 CHAPTER OUTLINES
Chapter 2 is concerned with providing an outline of the methodological approach – provided by Foucault’s governmentality research – that is employed in this thesis. It firstly contextualises governmentality by discussing the movement in Foucault’s genealogical work towards an analysis of the micro- and macro physics of power, that is, how power is exercised both on smaller, individualising, as well as on larger, more totalising scales. Foucault’s analytics of governmentality is then presented by outlining the rationalities which constituted governmentality – raison d’ État and police reason – as well as modern governmentality – liberalism and neo-liberalism – in Europe. This discussion shows how forms of liberal rule are constituted by earlier rationalities and that changes in governmental practices are linked to changes within political reasoning. The Chapter then considers the relevance of governmentality in this thesis. It is argued that European political reasoning was imported to and normalised in South Africa from the start of colonialism and that the rationalities identified by Foucault have a bearing on the conceptualisation of government in South Africa. This is further evidenced in adoption of both liberal and neo-liberal reasoning after 1994. Lastly, the
34 analytical approach that is employed to analyse governmental reasoning and basic education policy during the first fifteen years of democracy is outlined.
Chapter 3 advances the first level of analysis of this study which considers the rationalities that informed post-apartheid governing in South Africa. Brief critiques of apartheid’s illiberal rationality as well as the period of negotiation are given. It is argued that governing during apartheid was informed by an illiberal, authoritarian rationality. This mentality sought to create the ‘absolutisation of difference’ between those who were considered
‘worthy’ (Whites) and those who were ‘unworthy’ (non-Whites) of freedom. The period of negotiation, however, had an impact on the ability of post-apartheid political reasoning to discontinue the logic of apartheid. This was because certain concessions had to be made between the negotiating parties and due to the ‘solutions’ offered by market economics in addressing underdevelopment and inequality. This is followed by a consideration of liberal and neo-liberal reasoning as post-apartheid governmental rationalities by outlining some of the policies and practices of the ANC government. It is argued that a liberal understanding of government was adopted in 1994, most notably expressed in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). In 1996, a neo-liberal rationality was espoused as seen in the development of the Growth, Development and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy. To illustrate the tensions between these political rationalities, the manner in which both calculated ‘risk’ to society is discussed. It is argued that two ‘risk’ strategies were developed, one for ‘at-risk’
citizens (informed by liberal reasoning) and one for ‘active citizens’ (informed by neo-liberal reasoning). The management of these strategies contributed to the reconstitution of apartheid’s socio-economic inequalities. This is followed, finally, by a consideration of the continuities and discontinuities of apartheid’s illiberal reasoning since democracy.
35 The second level of analysis is advanced in Chapter 4. The discursive changes which characterised the transition from apartheid to post-apartheid rule, which were navigated by political reasoning in its formulation of basic education policy, are considered in the first half of the Chapter. The policy proposals which were developed during the period of negotiation to transform the education system are firstly discussed. It is argued that the proposal to establish an integrated system of education and training became the dominant one and was adopted in 1994. This had a bearing on education and training being rationalised as ‘appropriate’ objects of post-apartheid governmental reasoning. Due to the pressures which the negotiated settlement placed on policymaking, education and training, however, continued to functioned as part of an integrated system only in name. This was buttressed by the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) policy which did not necessitate significant institutional transformation in its development of an integrated system of learning. Thereafter, the role that political reasoning played in the adoption of certain basic education policies after 1994 is considered in the second half of the Chapter. The new school funding policy as well as the rationalisation of teachers and of teacher training colleges are considered in this regard. These analyses show how that these policies contributed to the widening of inequalities within the basic education system due to the tensions within political reasoning. The extent to which the latter inequalities contributed to the reconstitution of socio-economic inequalities during the first fifteen years of democracy in South Africa is also highlighted.
Chapter 5 provides the conclusions of this study and evaluates how these addressed the aim of the thesis. The aim of the study was to advance an alternative approach to analysing basic education policy to highlight the limits of future policy reform efforts. Following an overview of the objective of the thesis, as well as the methodology that was employed, the main arguments that were presented in the first and second level of analysis are briefly discussed.
36 The next section considers the main conclusions of the thesis. Specifically, it evaluates what impact the aforementioned arguments will have on future efforts to reform basic education policy. It also makes recommendations of future research on post-apartheid basic education policy.
CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY
37 It must be possible to do the history of the state on the basis of men’s [sic] actual practice, on the basis of what they do and how they think – Michel Foucault.26
This Chapter serves to contextualise and introduce Foucault’s analytics of governmentality which, as we have seen, informs the methodological framework of this thesis.
Within a post-structuralist framework, a methodology is considered the “‘theory of knowledge and interpretive framework’ guiding a particular research project” (Harding (1987) as cited in van Rooyen et al. 2004, p. 3) as opposed to a positivist conceptualisation that would view it as an “orderly way to achieve (objective) ‘knowledge’ or truth stories” (van Rooyen et al. 2004, p.
3). To enable the proposed analysis of basic education policy by this thesis, it is necessary to outline the assumptions that constitute Foucault’s analytics of governmentality, as well as the insights advanced by this body of work. It should be noted that Foucault does not advance a theory of the state in his governmentality research. Likening a theory of the state to that of an
“indigestible meal” (Lemke 2009, p. 35), Foucault describes the state as “nothing else but the mobile effect of a regime of multiple governmentalities” (1978b, p. 358). Moreover, while new ways of thinking about governing are demonstrated by this approach, in an attempt to avoid prescription, Foucault also does not provide clear methodological guidelines for studying the so-called ‘regime of multiple governmentalities’. The Chapter, therefore, will present the specific rationalities analysed by Foucault; not as a theory, but as a guideline, or tool, “for the critical analysis of political technologies and governmental rationalities in contemporary societies” (Lemke 2009, p. 37).
The Chapter opens with a broad outline of Foucault’s genealogy. This body of work, historic in orientation, is concerned with articulating the surface play of domination in order to
26 Foucault (1978b: 358).
38 call into question what is presented (or considered) as legitimate. The discussion highlights the assumptions that underpin Foucault’s exploration of political rationalities and practices. As the first level of analysis is concerned with governing in post-apartheid South Africa, the rationalities that constitute what Foucault calls ‘modern governmentality’ – liberalism and neo-liberalism – are of greatest relevance to this thesis. However, because modern governmentality is constituted by rearticulations of earlier rationalities and, in order to follow the unfolding arguments in Foucault’s thirty-five lectures on this topic (see Foucault 1978b, 1979), a brief discussion of the social paradigms that gave rise to modern governmentality is necessary. Thus, this early section outlines the emergence of the ‘idea of government’, traced back to Christian pastoral power by Foucault, followed by a schematic overview of his analysis of the rationalities that informed governmentality, raison d’ État and police reason. Building upon these, the next section presents a detailed overview of liberal and neo-liberal reasoning in the discursive contexts explored in Foucault’s research. Of interest, is how both these rationalities calculated ‘risk’ to society. This consideration, as previously mentioned, carries relevance for the analysis of post-apartheid political reasoning in this thesis. After this, it turns to elaborate on the applicability of the insights provided by Foucault’s study of political reason and its relevance to this thesis. This is essential for this thesis because an understanding of post-apartheid basic education policy is contingent on the understanding of these rationalities and the dis/continuities between them. The Chapter closes with a discussion on the analytical approach followed by Foucault and its appropriation by this study.