Schools Policy and Politics in England and Sweden: A Comparative Political Economy Approach
Year: 2011
Type: preprint
Abstract: This paper develops two (mutually compatible) theories that seek to explain when left-wing political parties will adopt marketising, privatising, choice-based schools policies. With partisan competition over societal inequality at the core of both theories, the first argues that the amount of left-wing 'power resources' is an important variable - with left-wing parties 'privatising' when they are strong, not weak. The second emphasises that the credibility of right-wing commitments to maintain redistributive schools spending is important. Where such credibility is available, left-wing parties will not seek to maintain the influence of teachers' unions over school spending, thus liberating them to adopt privatising reforms. Both theories are shown to find support in a comparison of policy-making between England and Sweden since the 1980s. Finally, it is suggested that the new coalition government in the UK may herald the development of a viable party-based commitment mechanism for Conservative-led governments in future. As such, it may indeed be leading the UK to a 'new politics'.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Timothy Jacobs Hicks
Institution: University College London
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1586246313