Open AccessRegional intergovernmental organizations in the Global South: Emerging education policy nodes between the global and the national
Author(s) -
Teklu Abate Bekele,
Mustafa Toprak,
Ibrahim M. Karkouti,
Thomas DeVere Wolsey
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
education policy analysis archives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1068-2341
DOI - 10.14507/epaa.29.6763
Subject(s) - scholarship , global education , political science , expansive , education policy , public administration , rationalization (economics) , institutionalisation , corporate governance , interdependence , policy analysis , sociology , higher education , public relations , social science , management , economics , compressive strength , law , composite material , materials science
Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) play unclear roles in education policy making and transfer. Much comparative education scholarship on the topic focuses on exploring the interplay between global and local/national actors in education policy, overlooking regional dimensions. To deepen our understanding, we analyzed the strategic plans of four RIGOs in Africa, the Arab and Islamic worlds, and Southeast Asia. Qualitative policy analysis is employed to reveal the roles RIGOs aspire to play in educational development. Of the what, how, and why dimensions of policy, this study focuses on the last two, as they reveal the rationales the RIGOs provided to justify their organizational positioning, their strategies to contribute to education policy, and their mediations with the national and the global. Our analysis has showed that RIGOs position themselves as significant actors in educational development in their respective regions, playing several complementary and sometimes conflicting roles. Analysis via institutional theory of the interplay of national, regional, and global contexts has revealed organizational isomorphism, decoupling between policy and practice, expansive structuration, otherhood engagements, and scientization and rationalization of organizational work. The RIGOs view themselves as elaborators of global models and, simultaneously, promoters of regionalism. Implications for education policy and research are identified.