The World Bank and Education Policy in Colombia: A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of International Organizations’ Learning on Domestic Policy

Abstract

What happens when influential international organizations change their beliefs about policy? Do they effectively transfer their learning? This paper answers these questions through a comparative historical analysis of the influence of the World Bank on secondary education policy in Colombia. Although the World Bank radically changed its ideas about secondary education and actively disseminated them in Colombia by reshaping its lending priorities and technical assistance, domestic increasing returns of previous foreign recommendations prevented the adoption of new World Bank’s lessons. This study shows that the influence of international organizations is substantially shaped by domestic politics.

Keywords:

• International organizations
• diffusion
• policy transfer
• secondary education
• comparative historical analysis
• policy legacies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Doctoral Grant Francisco José de Caldas, Colciencias. Capital Semilla, Universidad del Rosario.

Notes on contributors

Claudia Díaz Ríos

Claudia Díaz Ríos explores the interaction between global dynamics, domestic policies, and school change. She specializes in comparative education in Latin America.

Nathalia Urbano-Canal

Nathalia Urbano-Canal studies education policy in Colombia and has conducted several projects to improve public education in Bogotá.