Educación, Estado y política en Uruguay: Del imaginario estatista al ascenso de los corporativismos (o la nostalgia de la hegemonía)

Abstract

In this article we will try to show one of the otherwise unexpected evil effects of the neoliberal discourse of the ‘80s. This effect is not the withdraw of the Commonwealth as an educator, but the erosion of its legitimacy to create public space as place where conflicts of interest can be settled through the coordinated production of an hegemony that can overcome mere corporate disputes. This paper examines the current educational situation. A situation noted for a conflict in which corporations have a strong predominance and with the context of the rise of a left-winged government, and also with the background of the historical course of Uruguay, noted for giving the Commonwealth a key role not only in the management of cutting edge social and educational policies, but also in the very constitution of the «eastern» sense of nation. After quickly reviewing some key milestones of the historical process, the article is focused on the educational policies applied since the return of democracy during the 80s and on the objections to liberalization and deployment of current policies. The conclusion is that Uruguayan education has declined and has stopped progressing, and it seems to be collapsing in the dispute between a government that has quitted its role in an hegemonic and inclusive educational project, and the unions that cannot reach that moment in which «the awareness of their own corporate goals, in their current and future development, go beyond the boundaries of the corporation» (Gramsci, 1972).