This fascinating book investigates the strategic importance of the production and dissemination of expertise in the activities of the international organizations (IOs) that have come to symbolize the dominance of the Western political and economic order. Analyzing IOs as semi-autonomous policy agenda shapers, chapters explore how they use economic frameworks to interpret the 'problems' and 'solutions' of wider, non-economic policy domains. Examining a diverse range of policy domains, such as education, global care chains, chemical safety, and participatory development, this book illustrates the knowledge authority of IOs on a micro-political scale, revealing the routes and trajectories of international power. Featuring contributions from experts in the field of agenda shaping and international politics, this book is critical reading for political scientists and researchers exploring the growing influence of IOs around the world. Policymakers will also benefit from its insights into the micro-politics of IO policy agendas. Contributors include: D. Dolowitz, C. Fontdevila, E. Fouilleux, V. Gayon, S. Grek, M. Hadjiisky, R. Mahon, S. Maire, A. Martin, O. Nay, R. Normand, L.A. Pal, D. Stone, A. Verger

A European Politics of Education proposes a sociology of education establishing connections between empirical data coming from European-scale comparative surveys, normative assumptions structuring actors' representations and interpretative judgements, and a specific focus on Lifelong Learning policy areas. It invites readers to think about the place of standards, expertise and calculations in the European space from a common perspective, supported by a tradition of critical sociology and European political studies. The book: Addresses an important agenda: how the policies and politics of supranational Europe are making a European educational space Contains a response to the emergence of new epistemic governance and instruments at European level Contains contributions from the EU and the UK which give a comprehensive selection of perspectives and analysis of the field as it concerns Europe The complexity of the contemporary European education policy space is addressed here with new lines of inquiry as well as a reflexive outlook, on standardization, policy-making and actor engagement. Students and researchers of European policy studies, education policy analysts and theorists will all be particularly interested readers.

The range, speed and scale of Europeanizing effects in education, and their complexity, has produced a relatively new field of study, and this book examines the rise of international and transnational policy and flows of data and people around Europe. It uses scholarship and research drawn from sociology, politics and education in the study of Europeanizing processes or situations in education. Each chapter: creates a space for policy research on European education, bringing together widely dispersed studies in education studies, political science, sociology and European integration studies reflects scholarship, drawn from different centres and disciplines across Europe, developing theoretical insights into develops empirical studies about European institutions, networks and processes; the interplay between policy-makers, stakeholders, experts, and researchers; and between the European and the national brings together researchers from a large set of countries and mixes experienced and young researchers.As an introduction to the ways in which European education is being constructed, the book includes new subjects of study and a new relationship between disciplinary subjects and their methods of study. These include the role of think tanks and consultancies, international organizations, researcher mobilities, standards, indicators of higher education, and cultural metaphor.

This book examines the transformations of epistemic governance in education, the way in which some actors are shaping new knowledge, and how that new knowledge impacts other actors in charge of implementing this knowledge in the context of the decision-making process and practice. The book describes knowledge-based and evidence-based technologies that produce new modes of representation, cognitive categories, and value-based judgements which determine and guide actions and interactions between researchers, experts and policy-makers. It explores several major social theories and concepts, analysing the transformation of the relationship between educational and social sciences and politics. In the light of epistemic governance being linked to transformations of academic capitalism, the book describes the ways in which academics engaged in heterogeneous networks are capable of developing new interactions as well as facing new trials imposed on them by the changing conditions of producing knowledge in their scientific community and within their institutions. Knowledge is power. It is materialized in metrics, policy instruments and embedded in networks. The governance of European higher education, insightfully argues Romuald Normand, is not structured by hierarchical public policies, by governmental exercise of authority or heroic decision making. Normand makes a sophisticated intellectual argument, building upon the work of Foucault, Latour (Sociology of science), and the pragmatic sociology of Boltanski and Thevenot (sociology of justification) in order to precisely analyse Europe's higher education through the circulation of ideas and instruments. Based upon precise research, the book is a major contribution to the understanding of high education in a capitalist Europe, beyond the simple idea of neo liberalism. Normand, provocatively, even suggests the making of a European Homo Academicus. This is an innovative and important book for public policy, European Studies and the sociology of Education. Patrick le Gales, FBA, CNRS Research Professor, Centre d'Etudes Europeennes, Sciences Po, Paris, France

This book examines the transformations of epistemic governance in education, the way in which some actors are shaping new knowledge, and how that new knowledge impacts other actors in charge of implementing this knowledge in the context of the decision-making process and practice. The book describes knowledge-based and evidence-based technologies that produce new modes of representation, cognitive categories, and value-based judgements which determine and guide actions and interactions between researchers, experts and policy-makers. It explores several major social theories and concepts, analysing the transformation of the relationship between educational and social sciences and politics. In the light of epistemic governance being linked to transformations of academic capitalism, the book describes the ways in which academics engaged in heterogeneous networks are capable of developing new interactions as well as facing new trials imposed on them by the changing conditions of producing knowledge in their scientific community and within their institutions. Knowledge is power. It is materialized in metrics, policy instruments and embedded in networks. The governance of European higher education, insightfully argues Romuald Normand, is not structured by hierarchical public policies, by governmental exercise of authority or heroic decision making. Normand makes a sophisticated intellectual argument, building upon the work of Foucault, Latour (Sociology of science), and the pragmatic sociology of Boltanski and Thevenot (sociology of justification) in order to precisely analyse Europe's higher education through the circulation of ideas and instruments. Based upon precise research, the book is a major contribution to the understanding of high education in a capitalist Europe, beyond the simple idea of neo liberalism. Normand, provocatively, even suggests the making of a European Homo Academicus. This is an innovative and important book for public policy, European Studies and the sociology of Education. Patrick le Gales, FBA, CNRS Research Professor, Centre d'Etudes Europeennes, Sciences Po, Paris, France

Just what is the role and impact of corporate elites in contemporary reforms of public sector universities and schools? Providing fresh perspectives on matters of governance and vibrant case studies on the particular types of provision including curriculum, teaching and professional practices, Gunter, Hall and Apple bring together contributions from Argentina, Australia, England, Indonesia, Singapore and US to reveal how corporate elites are increasingly influencing public education policy, provision and service delivery locally, nationally and across the world. Leading scholars, including Patricia Burch, Tanya Fitzgerald, Ken Saltman, and John Smyth scrutinise the impact elites are having on opportunity, access and outcomes through political and professional networks and organisations.