The rise of the transnational capitalist class and World Bank 'aid' for higher education

Abstract

This article looks at globalisation as a process of replacement of the global political order of nation states with the global economic order of transnational corporations. It is argued that this process carries far-reaching consequences, in which a growing number of spheres, including education, are subjected to the interests of the global economic order. Under the disguise of global economic development activities the new world system strives towards maximising the short-term profits of the transnational capitalist class. Following Sklair's global systems theory, this article looks at the World Bank as a transnational organisation. Based on recent World Bank higher education reform loan projects in Eastern Europe, it is argued that the primary outcome of the World Bank loan projects is the redistribution of the resources of the so-called 'recipient countries' to the transnational capitalist class. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.