Spain, July 1988: Some observations on becoming professional

Abstract

This paper examines the 1988 Spanish Audit Law. In particular, it deals with the connecting of auditing to the Spanish state. Two central issues are addressed in the analysis. First, Spain as the research site offers an opportunity to consider the connecting of expertise to the state in a different geopolitical context from the advanced liberal democracy, which has typically characterized similar research endeavours. Second, the paper addresses the spatiotemporal specificity of arrangements between expertise and the state. Deleuze and Guattari's concept of “becoming” is employed to investigate the provisional and temporary quality of any such set of arrangements and their immediate potential for movement.