Educational aid, symbolic power and policy reform: The World Bank in Ethiopia

Abstract

The World Bank uses a combination of financial and non-financial aid to influence educational reform in aid-recipient countries. Drawing on an interpretive policy analysis methodology and using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of symbolic power as a 'thinking tool', this article aims to shed light on the Bank's non-financial pathways of policy influence in the Ethiopian higher education policy space. Specifically, it identifies knowledge-based policy regulatory instruments of the Bank, including sector reviews, advisory activities, analytical reports and learning events. The key argument is that in order to understand the full extent of donor power in national education policy fields in sub-Saharan Africa, it is imperative to problematize less visible discursive means of policy imposition.

Critical policy scholarship in education: An overview

“…Mills & Gale, 2007;Morrow, 1994;Olssen & Peters, 2015;Torres, 2013;Young & Diem, 2017) use critical social theory to explain why disadvantaged people might 'misrecognize' their conditions of inequality and exploitation; and understand the interplay of 'personal troubles' and 'public issues' and how the latter is translated into policy problems. Others (e.g., Dale, 2005;Molla, 2014Molla, , 2018Molla, , 2019aMolla, , 2019bRizvi & Lingard, 2010;Robertson & Dale, 2016;Wilkins, 2013) problematize the neoliberal policy logic and the globalization of education policy ideas.…”

“…Critical policy analysts are interested in understanding the power relations that produce the policy in question. They problematize the interaction of global policy agents in national policy fields (Dale, 2005;Lingard, 2018;Molla, 2014Molla, , 2018Molla, , 2019aMoutsios, 2010;Rizvi & Lingard, 2010), the role of elites in policymaking (Grek, 2011), and the phenomenon of 'mediatization' of policy (Lingard & Rawolle, 2004;Rawolle, 2005). Further, critical policy scholars are disposed to social justice (Lester et al, 2016;Ozga, 2000;Prunty, 1985).…”

Critical Policy Scholarship in Education: An Overview

“…Mills & Gale, 2007;Morrow, 1994;Olssen & Peters, 2015;Torres, 2013;Young & Diem, 2017) use critical social theory to explain why disadvantaged people might 'misrecognize' their conditions of inequality and exploitation; and understand the interplay of 'personal troubles' and 'public issues' and how the latter is translated into policy problems. Others (e.g., Dale, 2005;Molla, 2014Molla, , 2018Molla, , 2019aMolla, , 2019bRizvi & Lingard, 2010;Robertson & Dale, 2016;Wilkins, 2013) problematize the neoliberal policy logic and the globalization of education policy ideas.…”

“…Critical policy analysts are interested in understanding the power relations that produce the policy in question. They problematize the interaction of global policy agents in national policy fields (Dale, 2005;Lingard, 2018;Molla, 2014Molla, , 2018Molla, , 2019aMoutsios, 2010;Rizvi & Lingard, 2010), the role of elites in policymaking (Grek, 2011), and the phenomenon of 'mediatization' of policy (Lingard & Rawolle, 2004;Rawolle, 2005). Further, critical policy scholars are disposed to social justice (Lester et al, 2016;Ozga, 2000;Prunty, 1985).…”

Bibliometric Analysis: Symbolic Power Publication Trens in Scopus.com

“…This symbolic power is a subtle practice of domination and is not even realized by social agents. But it is also maintained and accepted rationally (Molla, 2019). The development of research on symbolic power is widely done in relation to gender, social class, religion.…”