Abstract
This chapter delineates what it means to bring a political economy lens to the issue of knowledge production within the field of global education policy. In addition to characterizing this perspective generally, this chapter addresses knowledge production in relation to the World Bank, one of the most influential knowledge-producing organizations in this field and the organization at the center of the empirical case presented in this book. Both the material and ideational dimensions of the World Bank’s influence are discussed. Beyond these issues, this chapter also (a) defines and characterizes impact evaluation; (b) discusses the purpose, argument, and contribution of this book; (c) provides background information on the policy case from El Salvador that serves as the book’s empirical basis; and (d) situates this book in relation to previous work by the author.
Since World War II data collection, research, and recommendations for policy in education have depended, to a significant extent, on international organizations. These agencies have had the resources, scope, and sometimes the vision to collect data on a large scale and to set education policy.
(Altbach, 1988, p. 137)
[There is] a new political economy of knowledge production and use in educational coalitions. In this environment, there are advantages for organizations that can more effectively package and promote research, can orchestrate a concerted effort to convey a consistent message through multiple media outlets, and can place it in front of key people in the policy pipeline. [Intermediary organizations] have demonstrated a notable ability to succeed in this climate.
(DeBray, Scott, Lubienski, & Jabbar, 2014, p. 179)
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Notes
- 1.
Portions of this section draw on Edwards and Loucel (2016).
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
See Edwards and Storen (2017) for an overview of the history and research on the World Bank’s work in educational assistance.
- 5.
For the period 1990–2005, Jones (2006, p. 95) reports that the World Bank issued $26 billion in education loans, with $14 billion coming from regular lending channels and $12 billion being issued through at lower interest rates for low-income countries.
- 6.
Importantly, though, recent research has highlighted how the World Bank is a complex organization that has evolved over time, with the implication being that there is not always a 100% correspondence between the rhetoric and recommendations of the headquarters, on one hand, and the lending practices of the country-level staff, on the other (see, e.g., Mundy & Menashy, 2014; Fontdevila & Verger, 2015).
- 7.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a bilateral agency of the US government that is separate from the US Agency for International Development that selects countries for funding on the basis of performance on various policy indicators, among other factors.
- 8.
The list of countries includes at least Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ghana, Mauritius Islands, Madagascar, Chad, Morocco, Senegal, and Mauritania (Meza, Guzmán, & de Varela, 2004).
- 9.
This section draws on Edwards (2016).
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Edwards, D.B. (2018). A Political Economy Perspective on Knowledge Production. In: Global Education Policy, Impact Evaluations, and Alternatives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75142-9_1
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