Feedback Effects and Coalition Politics in Education Reforms: A Comparison of School Voucher Programs in Sweden and Wisconsin

Abstract

Since 1990, the most important trend in the evolution of education systems in advanced democracies has been the spread of school choice policies. Wisconsin and Sweden were early movers, creating their school voucher programs in 1990 and 1991 respectively. From the outset, there was a difference between the two programs: Sweden’s vouchers were universal, Wisconsin’s were means tested. This paper explains why, arguing that education policies created different grievances in these countries, which influenced the nature of the political coalitions supporting school choice. Swedish policy makers built an encompassing coalition, whereas Wisconsinites constructed a narrower coalition formed of unusual bedfellows.

Keywords:

• comparative education policy
• school vouchers
• political coalitions
• institutional feedback

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The author wants to thank Keith Banting, Grant Amyot, Kyle Hanniman, and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

1. At the elementary level 5 programs out of 9 are means tested; it is 7 out of 11 at the lower secondary level (OECD 2017, p. 12).

2. New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Flanders, and the Netherlands all have universal voucher programs.

3. A list of interviewees (categories of actors, organization, and role) is provided as an appendix.

4. In the 1980s, there were three non-socialist parties in Sweden: the Moderate Party (secular conservative), the Liberal Party (social liberal), and the Centre Party (agrarian party). The Greens, the Social Democrats, and the Left Party were the left-wing alternatives.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Lachance

Anne Lachance is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, and a Joseph-Armand-Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholar, Queen's University. Her areas of expertise are education policy, social policy, and the politics of public policy.