The New Political Economy of Disability : Transnational Networks and Individualised Funding in the Age of Neoliberalism

This book addresses the ways in which individualised, market-based models of disability support provision have been mobilised in and across different countries through cross-national investigation of individualised funding (IF) as an object of neoliberal policy mobility. Combining rich theoretical and interdisciplinary perspectives with extensive empirical research, the book provides a timely examination of the policy processes and mechanisms driving the spread of IF amongst countries at the forefront of disability policy reform. It is argued that IF’s mobility is not attributable to neoliberalism alone but to the complex intersections between neoliberal and emancipatory agendas and to the transnational networks that have blended the two agendas in new ways in different institutional contexts. The book shows how disability rights struggles have synchronised with neoliberal agendas, which explains IF’s propensity to move and mutate between different jurisdictions. Featuring first-hand accounts of the activists and advocates engaged in these struggles, the book illuminates the consequences and risks of the dangerous liaisons and political trade-offs that seemed necessary to get individualised funding on the policy agenda for disabled people. It will be of interest to all scholars and students working in disability studies, social policy, sociology and political science more generally. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication Page 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 11 List of abbreviations 12 Introduction 14 Policy mobility: a new theoretical framework for the study of IF 17 The politics of disability rights, recognition and participation: a new direction for policy mobilities research 18 Studying policy on the move 19 Outline of the book 21 1 Individualised funding: history, theory, practice 28 Historical and intellectual antecedents of individualised funding 28 Uneven geographies of consumer-centred care 32 Individualised funding and consumer choice 34 Disability, mainstream and critical perspectives on individualised funding 36 Disability rights and citizenship 36 Neoliberalism and individualised funding: the new face of consumerism 38 The policy mobility approach 44 Grassroots agency and global policy mobility 47 Conclusion 50 2 Disability politics and the origins of individualised funding 61 Nancy Fraser’s bivalent theory of justice 64 Act one: early mobilisations 67 Early origins of cash payments: mobilisation and development of the personal assistant model in the United States 67 The rise of a disability movement in the United Kingdom 68 Parallel developments in ‘individualised funding’: 1960s–1970s 70 Diverging perspectives on disability, independence and political praxis 71 Act two: disability policy under Thatcher 74 Developments in the UK under Thatcher’s rule: mainstreaming and rationing personalised services 74 Cost containment: adding the narratives of key players to debates 76 The independent living movement and the campaign for direct payments 78 Difference and divergence in the campaign for direct payments 79 Hegemonic neoliberalism and disability empowerment: applying Fraser’s insights 81 Conclusion 82 3 From Thatcherism to New Labour: individualised funding in an age of ‘deep’ neoliberalisation 89 From disarticulated to ‘deep’ neoliberalism: New Labour and the third way 91 The demise of radical disability politics and the emergence of In Control 93 Early experiments in individualised funding 97 Modernisation, personalisation and the introduction of personal budgets 99 Depoliticising disablement 105 Conclusion 110 4 Self-directed support: a new direction for Scottish social care? 117 Self-directed support in Scotland: proponents and protagonists 118 Self-directed support: a case of Scottish exceptionalism? 119 Personalisation in Glasgow 123 Conclusion 129 5 Transnational advocacy and neoliberal entanglements: individualised funding in post-GFC Scotland 133 Information politics 134 Symbolic politics 138 Leverage politics 142 Accountability politics 144 Conclusion 146 6 New policy, same paradigm: Australia’s experiment in individualised funding 150 The NDIS in brief 151 Policy mobility and transnational advocacy: the intermediary role of In Control Australia 155 Consumer rights and collective action in Australian disability politics 162 Conclusion 166 7 Individualised funding and the changing political economy of Australia’s ‘disability marketplace’ 173 ‘Roll-out’ neoliberalisation and the institutional architecture of the NDIS 174 ‘Roll-back’ neoliberalisation and the dismantling of public services 178 Conclusion 182 8 Neoliberalism, transnational advocacy and the politics of disability: final thoughts 186 The bifurcation of disability politics, praxis and scholarship 187 Post-politics revisited: the depolitication and ‘NGOisation’ of disability advocacy 190 Individualised funding in an age of ‘deep’ neoliberalisation 193 Conclusion 195 Index 199 Uneven,geographies;,Neoliberalism;,early,mobilisations;,Scottish,exceptionalism Uneven geographies,Neoliberalism,early mobilisations,Scottish exceptionalism