In an effort to sustain economic growth and social welfare in the 21st century, higher education has taken center stage in many countries. Across the world, policymakers have expanded the sector and launched far-reaching structural changes to meet the challenges of the “knowledge economy.” What are the patterns of convergence and diversity in reforms across countries?
This presentation explores the comparative politics of institutional change in Germany and the US through the lens of the “regulatory welfare state.” It shows how a focus on the growing scope of competition-sustaining regulation, including on how shifting rules interact with fiscal transfers, can illuminate policymakers' efforts to steer the higher education sector in line with reconceived goals. In the process, the analysis seeks to make three broader contributions: clarify the reconfiguration of public authority in higher education; delineate the effects of differential state capacities; and theorize links between regulatory governance and welfare states’ turns to sustaining national competitiveness and providing social investment.
