The transnational state, neoliberalism and environmental education policy: A New Zealand case study

Abstract

The neoliberalisation of environmental policy (including environmental education) is complex and multifaceted and one in which the transnational state (TNS) is central. In order to address this claim, the first part of this paper explains the transnational state and in particular the role of the UN in redefining sustainable development and environmental education. I show how underpinning this process is the nation states ‘transmission belt’ function in which global policy directives are transmitted to the local level. This is achieved through a discussion of the dissemination of neoliberalised sustainable development policy in New Zealand policy contexts. I demonstrate this process by identifying policy formation located at different points in this process, and then via an analysis of its specific form in the context of EE in New Zealand educational settings. The paper then considers the neoliberal substance of this sustainable development led EE discourse in New Zealand which is linked both with its anthropocentric orientation, and its ‘problem solving’, soft-green managerialist/technological approach to the environment.