Neoliberalization of higher education is on the agenda in many high-income as well as middle-income countries, discussed in tandem with the decline and the transformation of the welfare states. In this paper I study this process in four different countries, which go through neoliberalization of higher education and are faced with mobilization against this transformation: Germany, Turkey, England, and USA. Using a comparative approach I will explore the alternative pathways taken during these transformations that lead to change in the relation to autonomy in higher education and the state. By using Qualitative Comparative Analysis I will highlight the different patterns in temporal junctures between 1970-2014 based on the degree of neoliberalization, the degree of opposition against the neoliberalization, strength and mobilization of the unions, type of student mobilization, state structure, political party composition, and the degree of consensus among the political parties.
