This article discusses how the critique of the monopoly of Western liberal thought through the decolonisation movement that was intended to increase the number of voices heard has been co-opted by nationalist politics in India and Russia. The debates in higher education in these countries reflect current key questions on the nature of the Indian…

This article provides an overview of the politics of education as they affect regions and communities on the periphery of the People's Republic of China. Drawing on the articles in this special issue of Comparative Education, it analyses tensions related to the attempted imposition of Bejing's homogenising and totalising vision of Chineseness…

Our guiding thesis in this article is that the recent burgeoning discussion of differentiation in the context of education has to do with critiques of the globalization theories that have been popular since 1990. In doing so, however, these critically motivated discussions run the risk of overlooking the historical roots of differentiation, which…

Many reasons exist for mergers in higher education. One of the most pervasive is the pursuit of resources, often expressed in terms of student numbers which give increased power within an education ecology. However, resource dependency is not the only rationale for merger; and history demonstrates that a multi-campus institution may disband as…

The rise in support for Scottish independence between the 1970s and the 2010s has shaped Scottish politics and policy profoundly. The rise provokes a paradox: in this same period, the average educational level of people living in Scotland has also risen strongly, and yet, at each particular moment in time, higher levels of education have been…

This article examines English language teaching (ELT) policy, textbooks, and pedagogy in the neo-nationalist era that followed 9/11 in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Informed by the Douglas Fir Group's transdisciplinary framework of second language learning, the examination substantiates the ideologies of "economization,"…

This investigation focused on two types of charter schools. The first is classical charter schools. These schools identify and market themselves as such, often including the word "classical" in the school's name. The second type of school offers a "back to basics" curriculum without necessarily identifying the curriculum as…

This paper explores the governmentality in Macao's higher education (HE) by exemplifying how neoliberalism and Chinese nationalism simultaneously inform the governmental rationalities and technologies in the city. Like many other systems, neoliberalism has substantially shaped Macao's HE. However, owing to post-colonial identity, Chinese…

Globalism is a neoliberally influenced focus on world markets and the knowledge economy particularly from the perspective of transnational economic entities. Nationalism concentrates on promoting the country as an entity distinct and special among other countries. When combined, as in Kazakhstan's case, the two perspectives constitute a paradox.…

Early childhood/educational environmental imaginations transmit national, global and planetary views of the world through texts, visual representations and material objects. These representations produce politics, including nationalism and globalism, and play a part in policy making as well as in how children learn to view and relate to the world.…

This paper aims to explain the path of higher education development and governance in (post-colonial) Hong Kong in light of the concept of hybridity. The paper begins with a historical review, delineating the establishment of major universities in Hong Kong, thereby illustrating how hybridity informs the trajectory of higher education development…

Previous research on neo-nationalism has largely focused on the political arena, analyzing voters, parties, and policies. The scholarship featured in this special issue moves beyond the analysis of neo-nationalism in contemporary politics to show how the ideology is enacted at the micro level. The stage for these dynamic interactions is…

This article examines how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' remarks contribute to anti-intellectualism and fuel the pushback against critical race theory (CRT) championed by like-minded conservative Republicans who view its instruction as an affront to society and authentic historical narratives. Dismissing educators and scholars who uphold the…

This study examines the influence of Christian nationalism in private Christian schools, with ABC Christian School in Southern California as a case study. It also explores its broader impact on American public education through parental rights groups pushing for book bans and curriculum changes. Survey data from former students and staff reveal…

This paper focuses on the relationship between agency and knowledge within the context of rising nationalism and populism. The case is the Czech debate over the reintroduction of civil defence education (CDE). It was abandoned in 1989 but recently, many new and contradictory calls for its return have appeared. We aim to gain an understanding of…