Discourses of international actors in the construction of the decentralisation policy: the case of Benin

Abstract

Decentralising education is a much-debated topic among policy researchers and practitioners though not often from a Foucauldian-influenced CDA perspective. This article’s specific focus is education decentralisation in Benin, arguing that the policy is framed by a modernist development understanding and reflects the country’s (neo-) colonial legacy and the influence of the development agencies and consulting firms involved in writing the policy. The policy can be viewed as a bricolage that pays scant attention to the rich social and cultural capital of Benin’s. The article concludes by advocating systems of education governance to overcome the historically produced, uneven and asymmetrical power relations between the global North and South.