This article draws on the contributions to this special issue to highlight the urgent need to restore checks and balances in our evaluation of 'usable pasts' in comparative education. Considering that our reading of the field's history not only moulds our understanding of comparative education now but also shapes our imagination of its potential…

This article argues that the worlds which comparative education has explored and is exploring are characterised by three main political patterns. The first and oldest is the competitive nation-state as the starting point of the comparison, an educationalised nation-state, one whose relative global strength in economy and military prowess is…

This article builds a case for critical historical geography in comparative education to examine how, over time, the social production of space contributes to educational disparity. It draws on Gupta and Ferguson's contrasting concepts of the "power of topography" and the "topography of power" and Lefebvre's tripartite theory…

In this paper we examine state and indigenous education in Bolivia. Focusing on debates about the hidden curriculum, we conceptualize the school as a political space where tensions between the overlapping jurisdictional powers of the hispanicizing state and indigenous authorities are played out. Our analysis of these tensions highlights the…

The impact on educational analysis of mainstream international relations (IR) theories is yet to realize its full potential. The problem of education in relation to the construction of world order is considered in relation to core developments in IR theory since the Second World War. In particular, the global architecture of education is seen as a…

Examines political aspects of international aid to education in Latin America, focusing on drastic ideological changes in the widespread shift from the liberal to the neoliberal state. Analyzes dilemmas and tensions of external aid, touching on the World Bank's roles and elements of its lending processes, particularly research policies. Addresses…

This paper falls into three parts: a description of the current French educational system and the groups influencing it; presentation of the more pressing educational problems of the 1980s; and a draft of developmental modifications likely to occur if liberals or, alternatively, socialists win political power in the early 1980s. (Author/SJL)

In the 1980s, English and Welsh schools face two major problems: declining enrollment and financial stringency. These may be exacerbated by the countries' uniquely decentralized educational power structure in which conflicts may be generated by political differences between local and national levels and by national accountability and testing…

Examines connections between democratization of schooling and three dimensions of social structure: political system and governance, wealth/poverty, and gender relations. Discusses nine processes and strategies for democratization in education: definition of democracy, legislation and policy, decentralization of education, teacher education,…

Neoliberalism claims that privatization, marketization, uniform standards, and accountability--some important dynamics surrounding globalization in education--increase choices and quality in education. However, numerous studies show that the market has consistently devalued alternatives; increased the power of dominant models; and exacerbated…

Evaluates public education's contributions to Mexico's economic development from 1952-1982. Finds education's principal contribution has not been to improve human capital or government competence; education has instead been a vital source of political capital that has helped to maintain the political system as an "inclusionary…

Deals with Chinese educational planning as a basic component in the public system for the governance and development of the formal education system, in accordance with the national development plan. "Politics determines what educational planning should achieve, but the administrative system determines what it can achieve." (MH)