Ties that bind? Transnational circulation of the policy metaphor sung-pang and education reform in post-authoritarian Taiwan

Purpose This paper traces the discursive evolution of the policy metaphor “sung-pang” (literally loosening the ties), which became central to market-oriented education reform in post-authoritarian Taiwan. Adopting a transnational lens, it analyses how sung-pang was selectively appropriated, translated and legitimised to dismantle authoritarian control over education. The study aims to historicise the emergence of market logics in Taiwanese education policy and to trace how economic vocabularies were reinterpreted within the context of political liberalisation, institutional restructuring and aspirations for democratisation. Thus, our attention is turned away from a nation-state focus and towards a critical understanding of historical connections within place-based studies. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on an extensive corpus of archival primary source material produced between 1994 and 1996. It examines public records, including the Education Reform Commissions papers as well as newspapers and commentaries, and presents an historical analysis of commissioners' backgrounds, policy networks and public positions during an era of reform in Taiwan. The interplay of historical and contemporary perspectives makes it possible to explore not only the formal policy texts but also the entangled broader policy environment in which sung-pang was articulated, contested and legitimised. Findings The historical analysis shows that sung-pang operated as more than a rhetorical device: it became a reform language that simultaneously dismantled martial-law legacies and legitimised market-oriented governance. Anchored in the twin principles of impartiality and autonomy, sung-pang defined the “loosening” of education as both a democratic imperative – freeing institutions from partisan control – and an economic strategy – binding them to competition and accountability. Moreover, commissioner biographies illustrate how travelling expertise, especially US-trained academics and scientific elites, provided symbolic and practical capital to legitimise these ideas. Thus, our historical analysis looks beyond the nation-state and on the one hand, challenges the hegemonic influence of policy narratives while on the other, it emphasises the importance of connections and the circulation of ideas and discourses. Originality/value The paper contributes to transnational histories of education by demonstrating how policy metaphors can function as sites of entangled creation rather than simple borrowing or nationally bounded policymaking. Tracing the consolidation of sung-pang reveals how neoliberal reform was historically rearticulated into a dual register: politically, as the language of rights and participation; economically, as the language of choice and accountability. More broadly, the study demonstrates how travelling expertise, conservative resistance and transnational references converged to legitimise new forms of governance, offering insight into the contingent ways neoliberal logics are embedded and reconfigured in specific historical moments.