David West

David West is an independent researcher living in Canberra. Until 2013, he was Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Australian National University, where he taught courses on social movements, political philosophy, Habermas and the Frankfurt School. His most recent book is Social Movements in Global Politics.

The Managerial University: A Failed Experiment?

The Managerial University: A Failed Experiment?

By: David West

Recent decades have seen a protracted attack and painstaking demolition of the traditional or ‘old’ university and an associated purging of academics. The rise of managers and ‘managerial’ doctrines were supposed to make universities more efficient and productive,...

In

Past Issues

PRECARITY

Precarity’s paradoxical force unites us in a condition of fragmentation and isolation.

CRISIS

The change and ruptures in our personal and collective lives, still lingers.

THE UNIVERSITY

Excessive managerialism, neoliberalisation and casualisation are some of the main challenges that are threatening the viability and the values of the university today. Lina, Amber and Scott kick off ‘The University’ issue, introducing the core themes and questions.

BODIES

This issue of Demos explores the ways in which the body moves through the world – how it labors and loves, how it treads the duplicitous thresholds of legality, how it is radicalised, and eternalised, how it is corralled and transgressed.

STUDENT ACTIVISM

Today’s student activists ask themselves: “how did we get here?”, “where are we going?” and “how are we going to get there?”. Issue 7 of Demos Journal concerns itself with these questions representing the history, practice and form of student activism.

FUTURES POSSIBLE

Introducing Demos issue 6: the editors take a look into what it means to imagine the future.

RESISTANCE

Introducing Demos issue 5: the editors take a look into what it means to resist and affect change.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES

Introducing Demos issue 4: the editors take a look into what boundaries mean to Australian identity today.

VOICES FROM THE GRASSROOTS

As a sneak peak into our latest edition, the Demos Editors bring together voices on grassroots organising and activism at ANU, in the Canberra community, and from beyond.

ARTICULATING SILENCE

The Demos editorial team bring you a preview of some of the exciting pieces to come with an exploration into the many meanings of silence.

CREATING DEMOS

To introduce the exciting diversity of voices that make up the first edition of Demos Journal, we embark upon a reflection on the relation between democracy and creativity itself.