In recent years, many populist leaders and parties have succeeded in taking over the levers of state power, in spite of the fact that much of their political rhetoric in opposition expresses anti-state sentiments. This paper examines how populist leaders and parties in Asia have been able to use the institutions of the state, including education,…

Transnational multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) are proliferating in the domain of education and development. This paper intervenes in scholarly discussions on such partnerships by pondering what post-foundational political thought might add. It is argued that both liberal and critical literature, albeit from very different viewpoints, tend to…

This paper focuses on the OECD's PISA 2018 international framework for global competence. Given the growing national and international attention on educating for global competence, and absent of other measures, there is a need to scrutinise this framework. Our critical analysis is conceptually framed by academic literature related to (a) the…

Much recent research stresses the increasing relevance of international organisations (IOs) for national education policymaking. Yet, IOs' curriculum recommendations have remained largely out of scope, although they provide a forceful example of 'soft' governance. Based on a content analysis of 83 documents from 42 inter/-nongovernmental, global…

A number of papers have focused on UN policy formulation processes, but little is known about how particular issues come to policy-makers' attention in the first place. This very early stage of policy formulation, called agenda setting, remains under-researched and more so in multilateral contexts. Applying Kingdon's multiple streams model to the…

This paper explores the role of media in shaping adult literacy discourse and policy in Canada. The authors show how journalists, newspapers and other media personalities have directly and indirectly influenced (1) government and public perception of adult literacy and (2) the creation of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's…

This article discusses the involvement of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) in transnational education policy-making, with particular reference to the global initiative Education for All (EFA). EFA is a policy process carried out by international governmental organisations (IGOs) with the main aim to achieve basic education for…