Policy Governance without Government in European Higher Education

Abstract

This article argues that the Bologna process, as a set of policy initiatives which exists at the margins of the European Union framework, embodies a case of governmentality in a context of governance without government. This is due to the distinctive regulatory characteristics of the Bologna process, which encompass its non-legislative character; the voluntary adaptation to, and participation of the member states in, the process; the extension of the process to non-European Union members; and, finally, its peculiarity as a set of common guidelines, the realisation of which differs within each member state. These characteristics introduce a modality of policy governance in European higher education that aims to tackle the challenges of globalisation beyond traditional forms of government.