Nation-Building, State-Making, and Mass Schooling

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel analyzes the expansion of mass public education, which is crucial to the processes of state- and nation-building, but understudied in political science. Recent studies have focused on both the origins of mass public education and how mass literacy has shaped subsequent patterns of political development (see, for instance, Darden and Grzymala-Busse 2005; Ansell and Lindvall 2013; Green 2013; and Darden and Mylonas 2016). However, this literature still suffers from two shortcomings. First, too often, it focuses narrowly on Europe and North America, where data is more readily available. Second, it tends to focus more on the relationship between regime type and education, setting aside issues of state- and nation-building, which are typically more relevant in earlier periods of modern history.

What political factors promoted the expansion of public education? How have public school systems, once in place, shaped the broader trajectories of state- and nation-building? These questions are significant for a number of reasons. The establishment of public school systems required an institutional apparatus capable of penetrating society, which quickly became one of the largest and most expensive government-provided services. Education systems also generated new political actors—teachers—which are the public servants who are embedded in communities. Teachers often embody the ideological apparatus of the state, and at the same time, are in constant conflict with the highest-levels of bureaucracy. Furthermore, these institutions have shaped civic cultures, and set new paths of social mobility that (to varying degrees) changed the socioeconomic configuration of their societies in the long run.

The papers on this panel contribute to broader understandings of state formation and nation building, by closely analyzing the political factors underlying the development of school systems in different countries. Each paper uses new concepts that highlight different aspects of education politics, along with multiple research methods, including both large and small-N analysis. This panel also adds to the existing literature the experiences of countries in the global South, which have received less attention. In addition, there is a strong focus on the state-society nexus. While existing studies often focus on political elites, we highlight the role of less privileged societal actors (i.e., peasants and teachers) in constructing public school systems. Finally, these papers provide a novel perspective on a number of issues of central importance to the modern nation-state, including bureaucratic expansion, regulatory intervention, the construction of national political identities, and the establishment of modern citizenship.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 7: Politics and History

Individual Presentations

• Mass Schooling, Postcards and Resonance of Official Nationalism in Latin America - Anna Kyriazi, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals; Matthias vom Hau, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals

• Regulating Schools and Teachers: A Comparative Analysis of Latin America - Christopher Chambers-Ju

• The Politics of Social Mobility and Educational Expansion in Revolutionary Iran - Kevan Harris

• Trusting the State and Becoming Citizens: Literacy and Land Reform in Mexico - Manuel Cabal, The University of Chicago

Chair

• Harris Mylonas George Washington University

Discussants

• Agustina S. Paglayan UCSD

• Kristin E. Fabbe Harvard Business School