The state of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia experienced council amalgamations from 2014 to 2017, amidst widespread disagreement from residents, community groups, councils, and politicians concerning the strategies and policy goals of the state government. In response, this article explores the experience in terms of a neoliberal and post-political framework, which offers a compelling lens to investigate the amalgamation aims and activity. A qualitative mixed methods approach is used to present a case study of three urban councils. The research reveals the critical underlying neoliberal/politico-economic benefits of amalgamation, and elucidates the techno-managerial, post-political processes employed by the state government in pursuit of its goals.

中文翻译：

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新自由主义和后政治城市治理：澳大利亚新南威尔士州的地方政府合并

2014年至2017年，澳大利亚新南威尔士州（NSW）经历了议会合并，居民，社区团体，议会和政界人士对州政府的战略和政策目标普遍存在分歧。作为回应，本文从新自由主义和后政治框架的角度探讨了经验，这为研究合并目标和活动提供了令人信服的视角。定性混合方法方法用于介绍三个市政委员会的案例研究。该研究揭示了合并带来的潜在的新自由主义/政治经济利益，并阐明了州政府为实现其目标所采用的技术管理，后政治过程。