12 - “Education for all” and the global governors

Summary

Introduction

International efforts to support a universal right to education have been a ubiquitous part of international society over the past five decades. Today it would be difficult to find any meeting of world leaders in which the universal right to education is not trumpeted as an international goal. Yet despite the engagement of a variety of global governors in “education for all” (EFA) efforts, a wide gulf has historically divided global EFA aspirations and achievements.

This chapter looks at the history of global governors and their “education for all” initiatives, focusing in particular on the changing relational dynamics among EFA governors. Over the past six decades, EFA has become a prime venue for displaying commitments to equity, economic redistribution, and human rights – attracting an expanding cast of governors precisely because it can enhance their legitimacy and authority. Yet ironically, the growth in the number of EFA governors has led to competition and fragmentation in international EFA activities. EFA's global governors have deployed competing technical repertoires, been guided by strikingly different bureaucratic and geopolitical interests, and have drawn on different sources for their authority. The result has been a system-wide form of “organized hypocrisy,” in which global governors repeatedly set wide-ranging international targets and goals, for which neither global governors nor developing country states are held responsible (Barnett and Finnemore 2004).