Competition, Divergence, and Influence: A Comparison of East Asian Bilateral Institutions and Practices for Educational Development in Cambodia

 

Walter P. Dawson

 

Review I Published December,2018

 

Research Journal of Educational Studies and Review Vol. 4 (6), pp. 82-86.

ABSTRACT

Studies of globalization of education typically imbue the target education system with agency. This study seeks to examine the bilateral aid agency actors and their own structures and practices as they might reflect processes of educational globalization in order to examine the two dominant sociological theories in the field of comparative education: Neo-Institutional Theory and Systems Theory. Policy documents, agency official interviews, and project activities were analyzed in Cambodia, as a case study, to test these two theories. It was found that both theories are lacking in their explanatory capabilities. The agencies do not display isomorphic convergence as predicted by Neo-Institutional Theory, and neither are they pre-occupied with preserving their own unique systemic characteristics as would be predicted by Systems Theory. It was discovered that it may be necessary to examine more closely the power relations between both aid donor and recipient nations and how those relations shape the forces which influence their structures and practices.

Key Words: Cambodia, development, education, Japan, South Korea, China.

 

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