The present article explores the making of education policies in weak states, particularly in the context of developing nations and in view of the increasing influence of international organisations, such as the World Bank, in definition of education reform agendas. The discussion seeks to contribute to the theory of weak states by highlighting the importance of political processes of interest articulation and mobilisation, and by suggesting that state weakness can vary internally from one policy to another. It does so with reference to education and to a study of radical discontinuity in Peruvian education policies. (Contains 4 endnotes.)