Political Economy of Refugee Education

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Rethinking Education in Emergencies: Critical Reflections on the Sector

Proposal

In this paper, we examine: What is political economy of refugee education, and in what ways is it distinct from political economy of education for citizens? We examine the ways in which traditional theories relevant to the political economy of education may vary under a responsibility sharing model of refugee education that has developed in recent years. Under a development approach, in which refugees are integrated into national systems over the long-run, like in the United States or Canada, we would expect the political economy of education to operate similarly to national or other migrant populations. Under a humanitarian model, we would expect responsibility for service provision to align clearly with humanitarian actors, with demands, purposes, and incentives distinct from and minimally entangled with those of hosting states. Under new responsibility sharing models, lines of responsibility become opaque and the political economy of education, including ideas about the purposes of education, actors and the nature of demand, and incentives for its provision become more complex.
We argue that the political economy of refugee education can be understood as distinct from the political economy of education for citizens, as it requires addressing the question of responsibility, which for citizens is assumed to lie with the state. As a way to understand the development of these existing approaches and to guide new approaches, we propose a theory of the political economy of refugee education in which four elements – purposes, actors and demand, incentives, and responsibility – are interrelated. These interrelationships, we argue, can be empirically understood through responses to questions related to each element: purposes of education (why education?), actors and demands (who is involved and what do they want?), incentives (why are these things wanted by the people who want them?), and responsibility (how to act on why education, what is wanted, and who wants it?).
We explore theories related to the first three elements in non-refugee settings and then consider the ways in which we expect these theories and their implications to vary when applied to all four elements and the refugee-specific element of responsibility in refugee education. Our proposed conceptualization of the political economy of refugee education is based on 20 years of field-based research in the field of refugee education and a review of literature on political economy of education and political economy of refugees, from fields of political science, sociology, economics, education, and refugee studies. Our contribution lies in conceptualizing where these literatures come together, defining the conceptual elements of political economy of refugee education, providing illustrative (and not exhaustive) empirical examples of these processes, and describing the implications of this conceptualization for research and practice in this area. As host countries and the global community grapple with decisions about refugee education, and new actors like the World Bank become more involved in refugee education, it is critical to understand ways in which the political economy of refugee education may be distinct from national citizens to ensure that approaches are equitable and effective for refugees and host communities.

Authors

• Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Shelby F Carvalho, Harvard University