Showing papers in "Comparative Education in 2009"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed an expanded vision of access and analyzed participation by grade and identified five different country patterns, showing that in some countries progress has been very uneven and that overall expansion may conceal large increases in lower grades and little change in completion rates.
Abstract: The numbers of children with access to basic education in sub-Saharan Africa have increased substantially over the last two decades but many still remain out of school. Some fail to enrol at all, especially in fragile states, and many more start school but do not complete the basic cycle. Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have generated commitments to improve greatly access to education. This paper first develops an expanded vision of access. Second, it analyses participation by grade and identifies five different country patterns. Third, changes in enrolments over time are explored which show that in some countries progress has been very uneven and that overall expansion may conceal large increases in lower grades and little change in completion rates. Fourth, data on age in grade are used to show that many children are overage and this may have consequences for attempts to lower dropout and improve completion rates. Fifth, participation by household income remains very uneven, especially at secondary level and wealth remains the most powerful determinant of progression to higher educational levels. Sixth, there has been good progress on some other sources of inequality, e.g. gender disparities, but much remains to be achieved, especially in fragile states. Concluding remarks draw out some policy related conclusions for future EFA priorities.
294 citations
TL;DR: This article revisited Ghana's Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy for clues as to why it did not achieve the target goal and especially why poorest households seem to have benefited least from it.
Abstract: When Ghana became independent in 1957 it had one of the most developed education systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over the next forty years its education system expanded to provide places for most, but not all, of its children. Since the education reforms of the late 1980s enrolments have grown steadily; this contrasts with some SSA countries with universal free primary education policies, which have experienced short periods of rapid growth. Education reforms in Ghana, however, have fallen below expectations. The Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme introduced in 1995 promised universal education by 2005. This paper revisits Ghana's FCUBE policy for clues as to why it did not achieve the target goal and especially why poorest households seem to have benefited least from it. One disappointment with FCUBE is that its input did not go far enough to offset the opportunity costs of schooling for the poorest households by abolishing all forms of fees and reducing significantly the indirect costs associated with attending school. The incidence of late entry, overage attendance and poor households' need for child labour also posed a further threat to the benefits FCUBE promised. 2009 Taylor & Francis.
196 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of western educational approaches in non-western countries and societies is discussed, and a case study of the application of Cooperative Learning, an educational method deve...
Abstract: This article is concerned with the influence of western educational approaches in non‐western countries and societies. This influence is frequently referred to as educational neocolonialism in the sense that western paradigms tend to shape and influence educational systems and thinking elsewhere through the process of globalisation. Given the perceived pressure to modernise and reform in order to attain high international standards, educational policy makers in non‐western countries tend to look to the west. Thus they may ‘borrow’ policies and practices that were originally developed and operated, and which appeared to be effective, in a very different cultural context to that of their own societies. In effecting such transfer, detailed consideration of particular aspects of the culture and heritage of the originating country is often neglected. To illustrate some of the problems that result from this, the article presents a case study of the application of Cooperative Learning, an educational method deve...
188 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw on a comparative study of the growth of data and the changing governance of education in Europe, with a focus on "policy brokers" in translating and mediating demands for data from the European Commission.
Abstract: This paper draws on a comparative study of the growth of data and the changing governance of education in Europe. It looks at data and the ‘making’ of a European Education Policy Space, with a focus on ‘policy brokers’ in translating and mediating demands for data from the European Commission. It considers the ways in which such brokers use data production pressures from the Commission to justify policy directions in their national systems. The systems under consideration are Finland, Sweden, and England and Scotland. The paper focuses on the rise of Quality Assurance and Evaluation mechanisms and processes as providing the overarching rationale for data demands, both for accountability and performance improvement purposes. The theoretical resources that are drawn on to enable interpretation of the data are those that suggest a move from governing to governance and the use of comparison as a form of governance.
165 citations
TL;DR: The authors revisited a topic central to the past and the present of comparative education: the theme of "transfer" which is far broader than just exporting a quality assurance process or some other "fix-it" educational technique to another country.
Abstract: This article revisits a topic central to the past and the present of comparative education: the theme of ‘transfer’. It outlines four ideas. First, that comparative education as a field of study, having begun in the study of ‘mobilities’, became diverted by other anxieties. Second, the article notes that the theme of ‘transfer’ is far broader than just exporting a quality assurance process or some other ‘fix‐it’ educational technique to another country. Third, the article asks how we may think freshly about ‘mobility’ and ‘transfer’ as a theoretical problematique. The conclusion of the article is that if we, as academics, are going to take themes such as mobilities, border‐crossing, and translation seriously, we have some unexpected challenges to sort out, including complex questions about ‘geometries of insertion’. For questions as difficult as those, ‘more research’ is not the only or even the best initial answer.
155 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make an initial attempt to illustrate how patterns of academic mobility in the history of universities have been framed by the international politics of particular time periods, including the colonial and nationalist periods.
Abstract: This article is an initial attempt to illustrate how patterns of academic mobility in the history of universities have been framed by the international politics of particular time periods. The article briefly looks at ‘the medieval period’ and then at the emergent colonial and nationalist periods, including the ways that institutions as well as academics themselves were mobile. More contemporaneously the powerful political forces of both the interwar period and the Cold War period (which are well known) are sketched. The final part of the article shows in some detail how, in the contemporary period, the scale and speed of cross‐border academic mobility has changed. There are new actors and new ideologies. What is clear from the article is that there is not merely a need to keep information about the flows of academics up to date for policy purposes. It is also clear that we are a long way from being able to theorise the problem, sociologically and comparatively.
102 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of a national, school-based teacher development program on learning and teaching in Kenyan primary schools and found that teachers were more interactive with the pupils in their whole-class teaching and greater use was being made of group work.
Abstract: This study reports on an investigation into the impact of a national, school‐based teacher development programme on learning and teaching in Kenyan primary schools. Building on a national baseline study (n=102), 144 video‐recorded lessons, covering the teaching of English, maths and science at Standards 3 and 6, were analysed to investigate whole‐class teaching and group‐based learning. Interviews were also conducted with school management committees, head teachers, teachers and pupils to elicit their views on the impact of the school‐based training programme on learning and teaching. The study found that compared to the earlier baseline, teachers were more interactive with the pupils in their whole‐class teaching and greater use was being made of group work. Lesson plans, teaching resources and flexible classroom layouts were also much more in evidence. However, the greatest impact on classroom practice was seen in the classrooms of those teachers who had undergone the most systematic in‐service training...
93 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the issue of school dropout in six communities in the Savelugu-Nanton District in the Northern Region of Ghana, focusing on 89 children (64 boys and 25 girls) aged 7-16 years, who had dropped out of school.
Abstract: This paper examines the issue of school dropout in six communities in the Savelugu‐Nanton District in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study focused on 89 children (64 boys and 25 girls) aged 7–16 years, who had dropped out of school. A snowballing sampling method was employed to recruit participants to the study. Two researchers interviewed the children using semi‐structured interview schedules over a period of three weeks. School dropouts were asked to tell their own stories about their schooling experiences and the factors which led to them leaving school. From their accounts dropping out of school appears to be the result of a series of events involving a range of interrelated factors, rather than a single factor. The complex nature of the processes leading to dropout demands input from various actors (i.e. teachers, head teachers, parent‐teacher associations, school management committees and community members) to detect and address at‐risk factors early in order to reduce the likelihood of dropout.
90 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that keeping processes of policy transfer "silent" can also follow a logic of legitimation, depending on which patterns of legitimacy are favored in a political culture.
Abstract: Research on educational policy borrowing has mostly focused on explicit transfer processes, often highlighting how explicit reference to the international has served legitimatory purposes in the borrowing country. In contrast, this paper focuses on ‘silent’ borrowing, i.e. non‐acknowledged processes of policy transfer. The paper argues that keeping processes of policy transfer ‘silent’ can also follow a logic of legitimation, depending on which patterns of legitimation are favoured in a political culture. Three propositions are argued in the paper, using the case of Sweden as an empirical example: (1) educational policy‐making in Sweden has been heavily influenced by international discursive currents; this, however, has largely been left unacknowledged by policy‐makers; (2) The educational research community has largely followed the official image of policy‐making in its exclusive focus on the national context; and (3) Silent borrowing was so prevalent in Sweden for a long time because political culture w...
87 citations
TL;DR: The Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) of 1994 represents the country's response to globalisation as discussed by the authors, and it purports to produce the self-programmable learner for an economy undergoing rapid transformation.
Abstract: Literature on globalisation claims that changed global patterns of production and industrial organisation have intensified international economic competition, prompting nations globally to restructure their education systems in an attempt to position themselves favourably in an increasingly competitive economic environment. This is an environment that now requires a new kind of worker, what Castells terms the self‐programmable worker. This has put education under pressure to produce the learner‐equivalent of the self‐programmable worker. This self‐programmable learner is characterised by such psychosocial traits as independence of thought, innovativeness, creativity and flexibility. Botswana's Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) of 1994 represents the country's response to globalisation. It purports to produce the self‐programmable learner for an economy undergoing rapid transformation. In this paper I take a critical view of the policy's intent. By analysing two of its central constructs (pre‐voc...
84 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of the third Free Primary Education (FPE) programme in nine schools in Nairobi was investigated. And the authors explored three access-related issues and their implications for current and future policy.
Abstract: Since Independence in 1963, Kenya has launched three Free Primary Education programmes: the first in 1974, the second in 1979 and the most recent in 2003. Using historical data, this paper first outlines each initiative in turn, and discusses why, in the case of the earlier initiatives, impressive initial gains in improved access proved difficult to sustain. Then in the final section, insights gained from a recent micro‐level case study of the impact of the third Free Primary Education programme in nine schools are used to explore three access‐related issues, and their implications for current and future policy.
TL;DR: Taylor et al. as mentioned in this paper used quantitative empirical data from two districts in two different provinces in South Africa to understand the dynamics of access to primary education and found that access must be more than just a place in a school for every child; it must be meaningful access.
Abstract: The Education for All and Millennium Development Goals commit national governments, international agencies and civil society to ensure that all children are provided with basic education. In South Africa this would mean full attendance in Grades (1-9). The achievement of universal primary education and gender equity across low-income countries are seen as critical to efforts to reduce poverty, increase equity and transform the developmental prospects of all people. South Africa has committed itself to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals premised on the right to basic education for all which is enshrined in its Constitution. However, unlike a number of other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa has near universal access to formal public schooling up to the end of the compulsory phase: this phase comprises of the foundation phase (Grades 1-3); the intermediate phase (Grades 4-6); and the junior secondary phase (Grades 7-9) - a total of 9 years of schooling. However, substantial infrastructural backlogs deprive learners of equal opportunities to quality education. Expanded access has little import unless it includes regular attendance, enables progression through grades at appropriate ages, and provides meaningful learning, achievement and completion. Using quantitative empirical data from two districts in two different provinces in South Africa, this article reviews patterns of participation. It pays particular attention to dropout, age-grade progression and repetition in understanding the dynamics of access. The article concludes that access must be more than just a place in a school for every child; it must be meaningful access. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the entry of standardised measurement into the educational system of Sweden and Germany and the processes of shape-shifting associated with this process, and discuss the role of shape shifting in this process.
Abstract: The article discusses the entry of standardised measurement into the educationalsystems of Sweden and Germany and the processes of shape-shifting associatedwith this process. In the first part of t ...
TL;DR: In this article, the trends in enrolment have been changing since independence in Malawi and brings to the fore equity issues, as well as an indication of how achievement is changing.
Abstract: Malawi was the first sub‐Saharan African country to take a bold decision and declare free primary education after the Jomtien conference in 1990. Fourteen years after the policy was first implemented no serious attempt has been made to find out what has happened to the influx of pupils joining the system. Using secondary sources of data, this paper provides evidence of how the trends in enrolment have been changing since independence in Malawi and brings to the fore equity issues, as well as an indication of how achievement is changing. Since the introduction of Free Primary Education in 1994/95 many more children have been to school. Malawi has also succeeded in reaching gender parity in enrolments at least at the lower levels. However, these successes come in a system which is failing on many counts. Levels of resource provision are very low and their distribution uneven. The system is still beset with a series of efficiency problems with high dropout rates, especially for girls in higher grades, and on...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the impact of globalisation on the higher education system of a very high-income developing country and suggest ways in which the UAE context challenges and extends Tikly's proposed conceptual framework, described in his article, ‘Globalisation and education in the postcolonial world: towards a conceptual framework.
Abstract: Occupying a crucial economic role in supporting capitalism through the supply of oil, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a very‐high income, early‐development stage nation with high annual economic growth levels but low levels of labour market participation by its citizens. The national higher education system was established in 1977 and offers a different context through which to examine the relevance of existing accounts of globalisation and education in a postcolonial nation. The paper concludes by suggesting ways in which the UAE context challenges and extends Tikly’s proposed conceptual framework, described in his article, ‘Globalisation and education in the postcolonial world: towards a conceptual framework’, when considering the impact of globalisation on the higher education system of a very high‐income developing country.
TL;DR: The authors explored two related aspects of these reforms through comparative case study research in three different school locations within the same region in China, and found that improving student academic performance in the key state examinations remains the top priority for schools, local authorities, teachers, parents and students.
Abstract: In the post-Mao era, the Chinese government carried out a series of education reforms to modernise education provision. This paper explores two related aspects of these reforms through comparative case study research in three different school locations within the same region in China. The first focus is upon system reform initiated through decentralisation and financial diversification that encouraged local governments to use multiple channels to improve their education services and resource provision. The second dimension concerns the national reforms for quality improvement intended to transform the examination-oriented system into quality-oriented education. Based on the comparative data and analysis, the findings of this research suggest that improving student academic performance in the key state examinations remains the top priority for schools, local authorities, teachers, parents and students. The processes of decentralisation and the development of a competitive educational market have left schools competing for funds and for students in efforts to secure an advantageous position in the education market place. In contradiction with the national policy this has reaffirmed examination orientation within Chinese schools and, as demonstrated by the case study comparison, has resulted in an increasingly stratified education system.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that a government has the political will to invest in primary education if doing so helps it to stay in power, and they propose a formula to determine beforehand whether a government will have political will.
Abstract: The goal of Education for All (EFA) is in jeopardy, and the cause is widely perceived to be a lack of political will. But we lack an accurate definition of political will. In this article, I offer a definition that determines beforehand whether a government will have political will. In contrast to current academic work and popular discourse, which looks for political will in democratic institutions or the commitment of leaders, I argue that a government has the political will to invest in primary education if doing so helps it to stay in power. The article demonstrates that providing primary education helps a government stay in power in two specific circumstances. The first is when the government needs the support of the poor, which only occurs when the poor have help organising from a ‘political entrepreneur’. The second is when employers need large numbers of skilled workers. In these two circumstances, the government will have the political will to invest in primary education. This formula is successfu...
TL;DR: In this article, a case study is presented looking at how the idea of gender equality in education moved from articulation as a normative idea in the capability approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, through practical application in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)s Human Development Reports, selective appropriation in the Millennium Development Goals, and interpretation by education officials in South Africa and Kenya.
Abstract: Commentary on gender equality in education as a global issue often assesses what makes policy work or why certain emphases in policy are selected. The article recasts this division by looking not so much at the separation between policy and its enactment, but at the forms of mobility entailed in the movement between these different poles. It delineates two forms of mobility, termed translation and transversal dialogue. A case study is presented looking at how the idea of gender equality in education moved from articulation as a normative idea in the capability approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, through practical application in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Human Development Reports, selective appropriation in the Millennium Development Goals, and interpretation by education officials in South Africa and Kenya. Analysis highlights the epistemic resources each form of mobility requires, pointing to different approaches to understanding context and dialogue and the different wei...
TL;DR: Access to basic education is a central plank of the global initiatives on Education for All and is prominently included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to which almost all countries subs...
Abstract: Access to basic education is a central plank of the global initiatives on Education for All and is prominently included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to which almost all countries subs...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the circulation of discourse in the global educational field and its relation to local-specific education policies and practices, arguing that as discourses that define an educated identity for the information age move from global space to the state and to practice based institutions these discourses change their meaning and their practical effects.
Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyse the circulation of discourse in the global educational field and its relation to local‐specific education policies and practices. The first section examines the logic of networks and relates it to the specificities of the networks of interaction that, it is argued, constitute ‘global policy spaces’ in education. It is then suggested that the structural attributes and politics of ‘global policy spaces’ influence the type of discourses produced in this space. The second and third sections will analyse how the mobile discourses that are produced and reproduced in these networks are transformed as they move into the space of places (the state and institutions that are attached to a territory). The main argument is that as discourses that define an educated identity for the information age move from global space to the state and to practice‐based institutions these discourses change their meaning and their practical effects.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined access to and exclusion from basic education in Ghana over the period 1991-2006, using data derived from the Ghana Living Standards Surveys, and found that progress towards completion of the basic phase of education was the preserve of the relatively privileged.
Abstract: This article examines access to and exclusion from basic education in Ghana over the period 1991–2006, using data derived from the Ghana Living Standards Surveys. It uses the CREATE ‘zones of exclusion’ model to explore schooling access outcomes within the framework of the household production function. Empirical findings indicate that the period was marked by large?scale quantitative access gains in Ghana. However, rates of progress through the system, as well as rates of dropout, showed no such improvements. Progress towards completion of the basic phase of education was found to be the preserve of the relatively privileged, raising questions of equity in relation to both the supply and demand for schooling. While Ghana may be one of few countries in Africa to achieve universal initial access to education, considerable challenges lie ahead in terms of improving rates of retention and completion.
TL;DR: This article examined the ways in which national differences in educational philosophies and policies have affected trajectories through education for immigrant and second generation students and their succeeding socio-economic, civic and political integration.
Abstract: This article uses international comparisons to examine the ways in which national differences in educational philosophies and policies have affected trajectories through education for immigrant and second generation students and their succeeding socio‐economic, civic and political integration. By looking at various settings such as classrooms, immigration policies and state education programmes, it examines how education systems have responded to the changing demographics of their transnational student population and how contemporary forms of mobility are shape‐shifting conditions of inclusion and exclusion in education.
TL;DR: In this article, levels of learning achievement and comparisons between grades, schools, and populations of children in the Western Cape were investigated. But, despite high levels of investment, South African schools perform poorly in relation to other countries at similar levels of income.
Abstract: Silent exclusion, when children register and attend school but learn little, is a critical feature of educational access in South Africa. Several international studies (e.g. TIMMS, SACMEQ) have shown that despite high levels of investment, South African schools perform poorly in relation to other countries at similar levels of income. Equitable access is yet to be achieved with wide variations in the quality of access between sub‐populations. This paper focuses on levels of learning achievement and comparisons between grades, schools, and populations of children in the Western Cape. Since outcome data is available over time changes can be followed and equitable access explored.
TL;DR: This article examined the patterns of schooling of a population of children born in the Greater Johannesburg area in April to June 1990 and found that the vast majority of children in the birth-to-20 cohort entered school in the year they turned 6 or 7, and almost all were still enrolled at the age of 15.
Abstract: Using data collected by the Birth‐to‐Twenty child cohort study in urban South Africa, this paper describes the patterns of schooling of a population of children born in the Greater Johannesburg area in April to June 1990. This paper examines the patterns of initial enrolment in Grade 1, transitions through grades, and trends in primary school completion. The vast majority of children in the Birth‐to‐Twenty cohort entered school in the year they turned 6 or 7, and almost all were still enrolled at the age of 15, the end of compulsory schooling in South Africa. While only a very small number of children in the study are excluded from formal schooling, the study reveals relatively high rates of repetition, specifically for boys living in working‐class and poor neighbourhoods.
TL;DR: The authors examines the goals and consequences of an educational reform introduced in all Japanese schools beginning in 2002, which was designed to increase teacher autonomy and to augment student interest in learning, and provides valuable insights into the effects of the programme at the local level, teachers' views about educational reform, and the Ministry of Education's ability to facilitate change in the schools.
Abstract: This article examines the goals and consequences of an educational reform introduced in all Japanese schools beginning in 2002. The Integrated Studies (IS) programme was designed to increase teacher autonomy and to augment student interest in learning. The reform has the potential to alter significantly the way education is organised and delivered in Japan, yet outside the country very little is known about it. This preliminary study of IS provides valuable insights into the effects of the programme at the local level, teachers’ views about educational reform, and the Ministry of Education’s ability to facilitate change in the schools.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the mobility of national identities with reference to the field of education and argue that national identities can move across or between geopolitical settings, and in the process of their movement they tend to shift and change their shape in certain ways.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore ‘the mobility of national identities’ with reference to the field of education. It argues that as products of multimodal discourse, national identities can move across or between geopolitical settings, and in the process of their movement they tend to shift and change their shape in certain ways. To test this argument the article employs examples from the nineteenth and twentieth century worlds of Greater Britain and Hellenism. In particular, by looking at various school books and practices it seeks to illustrate the movement of identity from Britain to New Zealand and from Greece to Cyprus and the changes that the mobile identities went through as they moved across these settings. The article finishes with an initial theorisation of the ‘dimensions’ of the mobility of national identities and a call for comparative education to engage with mobile and shifting identities in the postcolonial and postmodern cosmos.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored whether polytechnic and university graduates are affected in the same way by gender differences in the graduate labour market in four countries: the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.
Abstract: This paper explores whether polytechnic and university graduates are affected in the same way by gender differences in the graduate labour market in four countries: the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Switzerland. Using data from the Research into Employment and Professional Flexibility (REFLEX) graduate survey, the analysis is based on multinomial logistic regression models with particular attention paid to the interpretation of relevant two‐way interaction terms. The results show that in three of the four countries, the impact of gender as well as gender‐typed fields of study on graduates’ chances of accessing the highest and lowest occupational ranks varies between university graduates and polytechnic graduates. Female‐specific benefits of public sector employment for graduates’ occupational positioning were confirmed in only one country, but the results also suggest that this association depends on the type of higher education gained. As a consequence, the analysis challenges the idea of higher educa...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the mobility of the German university with special reference to the creation of Japanese and American universities in the late nineteenth century, and the mobility took place at different speeds and with different kinds of struggles, and by the time the mobility process was well underway, it had become clear that it was not the same version of "the German university" which was being 'borrowed' in the two places.
Abstract: This paper notes that universities are mobile That is, models of universities are transferred or borrowed or move around the world and in the process of moving or being moved they tend to change or be changed from the kind of university they were – either in practice or as ideals at the point of origin To explore these themes the article discusses the mobility of ‘the German university’ with special reference to the creation of Japanese and American universities in the late nineteenth century Different social actors undertook the ‘transfer’ of the German university in both cases for somewhat different reasons, and the mobility took place at different speeds and with different kinds of struggles The ways in which ‘the German university’ was fitted into its new contexts was also different, and by the time the mobility process was well underway, it had become clear that it was not the same version of ‘the German university’ which was being ‘borrowed’ in the two places In its new contexts, the new univer
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the characteristics and dynamics of interministerial cooperation in the education sector as a form of development cooperation, whereby a ministry of education in the north collaborates with counterpart(s) in the south for purposes of mutual interest and development, and address the question to what extent and under what conditions can such IMC provide a model for a new kind of "partnership" that is effective both for providing technical assistance and for facilitating greater equality and reciprocity in the relationship.
Abstract: This article examines ‘inter‐ministerial cooperation’ (IMC) in the education sector as a form of development cooperation, whereby a ministry of education in the north collaborates with counterpart(s) in the south for purposes of mutual interest and development. It explores the characteristics and dynamics of IMC, and addresses the question to what extent and under what conditions can such IMC provide a model for a new kind of ‘partnership’ that is effective both for providing technical assistance and for facilitating greater equality and reciprocity in the relationship. Within the context of divergent perspectives currently influencing international cooperation and using different levels of analysis, the article reviews two recent examples of IMC, one developed by The Netherlands in cooperation with South Africa, and the other by Norway in cooperation with both Zambia and Nepal. The reviews found that the parties involved had grave difficulties to agree on and articulate the potential of such cooperation,...