Leaderism, managerialism and professionalism under the neoliberal state

Reed, Michael I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8267-572X and Reed, Cara J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1085-1661 2026. Leaderism, managerialism and professionalism under the neoliberal state. Dent, M., Adams, T. L., Ballakrishnen, S. S. and Denis, J-L., eds. The Routledge Companion to the Professions and Professionalism, 2nd edition. London: Routledge, pp. 283-301. (10.4324/9781003515616-21)

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Abstract

Expert power and control have been consistently critiqued and challenged over many decades. Yet neoliberalism and the hybrid managerial ideology it legitimated have penetrated so deeply into the contemporary public domain that ‘experts’ now face levels of distrust and hostility on a scale and intensity threatening their very existence. They lie at the core of an unfolding ‘existential crisis’ fundamentally undermining any claims to distinguish between ‘truth’ and ‘falsity’ based on specialist knowledge accrued through painstaking investigation and disinterested analysis. This chapter assesses the structural and discursive transitions in expert authority and governance generated by this early twenty-first-century paradigm shift in the political, economic, and cultural context in which expert groups and organisations are embedded. It highlights the socio-political and cultural dynamics shaping changing forms of expert and professional authority, while recognising the importance of variations in emerging patterns of expert and professional jurisdictional management and governance. By analysing how neoliberal managerialism and the vision of ‘transformational leadership’ it promotes became ideological partners within wider authoritarian and libertarian movements deeply suspicious of expert authority, the chapter provides an overarching analytical perspective on the status of the ‘expert legitimation project’ today. Counterintuitively, it also suggests neoliberal managerialism may have empowered experts and professionals to renew their authority.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9781032849157
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2026 14:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190530

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