What Are the Impacts of the Neoliberal Turn on Government IT Infrastructure?

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I think that's a really good question and probably we need to look back or situate this within the kind of broader developments is just alluded to. So perhaps I can begin by saying a little bit about why I became interested or how I became interested in this area. This IT infrastructure public sector digitalization epitomizes in many ways, not just the kind of neoliberal term but actually what happened from the 1990s with the growth of third way paradigms of governance. The state as conceptualized in governments such as Clinton's government or the Tony Blair government was supposed to exist and had an important function as the arbiter or the sleeper,. the steerer of markets and of the economy.

Paris Marx is joined by Rosie Collington to discuss the consequences of outsourcing tech to the private sector, how it causes governments to lose important capacities to serve the public, and how the push for open government data empowered large tech firms.

Rosie Collington is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London. She’s also the co-author of The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies with Mariana Mazzucato. You can follow Rosie on Twitter at @RosieCollingto.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

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