Excerpt: /363/ Outsourcing the State

On the politics of consultancy   [Patreon Exclusive. Sign up @ patreon.com/bungacast]   The past 40 years have seen a whole range of things the state used to do itself outsourced to third parties. Now there is a turn against these practices. But can the state actually get stuff done, or is it doomed for its prior reliance on consultants?   It's not just the left the criticises outsourcing - the right now does too. How do these positions differ? And how are these questions related to another critique – that of 'bullshit jobs'?   Readings & Links: In Clover, Laleh Khalili, LRB (attached) The Big Con — the case against consultancies (review of Mazzucatto & Collington), Diane Coyle, FT (attached) Letter: Groundless assertions about a trusted profession (response from a consultant), FT How PwC captured Australia, Shahar Hameiri, Unherd Consultancies Have Been the Handmaidens of Neoliberalism, Nathan Akehurst, Jacobin Radical Centrism: Uniting the Radical Left and the Radical Right, Ashwin Parameswaran, Macroresilience The limits of government outsourcing, Martin Bortz, Pursuit /267/ South Africa Mafia State ft. Benjamin Fogel