The London School of Economics and Political Science Constructing the ‘Europe of Knowledge’? The role of ideas in the transformations of European Education Policy (1973-2010) Marina Cino Pagliarello A thesis submitted to the European Institute of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, August 2017 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 83,471 words including footnotes and excluding bibliography. Statement of Use of Third Party for Editorial help I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Paul Rooney (Chapter 1); Clare Sandford (Chapters 2-3-7-8) and Hannah Austin (Chapters 5-6). I can confirm that my bibliography was formatted by Paul Rooney. 2 Abstract Since the launch of the Lisbon strategy in 2000, the European Union has significantly transformed its education policy under the umbrella notion of the ‘knowledge economy’. In particular, the dominant policy discourse links education to economic growth with the predominance of education as a pro-market policy over education as a policy aimed at social inclusion. In addition, the European Commission performs a more cognitive, normative and regulative role through the governance mode of the Open Method of Coordination and its monitoring mechanisms such as performance indicators and benchmarking. Although these changes have been acknowledged by the literature, the tendency of structural or institutional accounts has been to take them for granted or as inevitable. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a theoretically and empirically based analysis of the policy process of these transformations. By drawing upon ideational theories and by employing process tracing over a time frame of more than three decades, the thesis builds a three-stage theoretical argument to explore in a structured fashion how the consensus around specific ideas about the goals of European education policy was formed, which actors advocated it, and why it prevailed. The empirical material draws on original and confidential archival sources, primary sources, official EU documents, and few in-depth elite interviews. The findings show how a specific problem definition of education allowed the European Commission to strategically construct a specific education agenda around the notion of the knowledge economy, which also reflected the preferences of powerful economic actors within the European Union. However, the findings also suggest that the polysemantic concept of the idea of knowledge economy itself acted as coalition magnet by aggregating actors with diverging interests as well as reinforcing the power and interests of the actors advocating this idea. By looking at the political-economic causes of the transformations of education, this thesis adds new knowledge to the current EU education policy literature. In addition, the thesis contributes to the current debates on the role of ideas in shaping political outcomes. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 3 Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 4 List of Tables..................................................................................................................... 7 List of Figures ................................................................................................................... 7 List of abbreviations .......................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 14 1.1 The puzzle of the transformations of European education policy ......................... 14 1.2 Existing theoretical approaches to explain the puzzle ........................................... 20 1.3 The argument in brief and the research strategy .................................................... 27 1.4 Empirical significance ........................................................................................... 30 1.5 Theoretical significance ......................................................................................... 33 1.6 Overview of the thesis ........................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2 Theoretical framework ................................................................................... 39 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 39 2.2 Theoretical perspectives and functions of ideas: ideas as policy solutions, problem definitions and zeitgeist ............................................................................................... 41 2.3 The three-stage argument and observable implications ......................................... 60 2.4 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................... 71 Chapter 3 Research strategy Process tracing the influence of ideas ............................... 72 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 72 3.2 Empirical strategies for process tracing the influence of ideas ............................. 73 3.3 Motivation for the choice of a Single Case study and periodization of the analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 78 3.4 Data collection and evaluation of sources ............................................................. 81 4 Chapter 4 The emergence of the problem definition (1973-1985) ................................. 89 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 89 4.2 Early developments of European education policy ............................................... 92 4.3 From “conditions” to “problems”: material changes and the social contribution of education ................................................................................................................... 101 4.4 Education from a social inclusion to a market tool: the ideational political entrepreneurship of Peter Sutherland in 1985 ........................................................... 117 4.5 Discussion and conclusion ................................................................................... 133 Chapter 5 The development of the problem definition (I): Discourse of crisis and the construction of the ‘Europe of knowledge’ (1985–1997) ............................................. 138 5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 138 5.2 The “1992 Project” and the advancement of neo-liberalism ............................... 141 5.3 The discourse of crisis, education and the survival of the European economy ... 146 5.4 European education policy and non-state actors: business ownership ................ 166 5.5 Interim conclusion ............................................................................................... 180 Chapter 6 The development of the problem definition (II): Working plans, institutional innovations, and policy initiatives (1985–1997) .......................................................... 183 6.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 183 6.2 The impact of the problem definition on working plans and policy priorities .... 184 6.3 The institutional impact of the problem definition: the Task Force, education in the Maastricht Treaty, and the creation of DG Education, Training and Youth ....... 191 6.4 The impact of the problem definition on the mobility programmes: creating the “walking, talking, little Europeans” .......................................................................... 198 6.5 Discussion and conclusion ................................................................................... 206 Chapter 7 The institutionalization of the problem definition as policy solution (1997- 2010) ............................................................................................................................. 215 7.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 215 5 7.2 Main institutional and contextual developments of the 2000s: from the Lisbon strategy to Europe 2020 ............................................................................................