The politics of education reform : bolstering the supply and demand ; overcoming institutional blocks

Abstract

This paper explores the political conditions that may enhance or hinder the adoption of education reforms. It summarizes recent scholarship on the political hurdles that education reforms tend to encounter. It also identifies theoretically informed hypotheses based on recent successes and failures of reform. The paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 discusses the prevalence of political impediments to reform, despite recent increase in domestic and international pressure urging education reform. Part 2 shows that in a significant number of cases, there has been successful adoption of education reforms, suggesting that political obstacles are not insurmountable. It also discusses hypotheses about the political conditions under which education reforms are more likely to be approved. The main arguments of this paper is that reforms are more likely to flourish if the following political obstacles are addressed: 1) concentration of cost and diffusion of benefits; 2) deficient ministerial commitment levels (i.e., bolstering the supply side); 3) insufficient societal demand for reform (i.e., bolstering the demand side); and 4) institutional features that magnify the power of veto groups.