Hybrid governmentality: A Foucauldian analysis of power-knowledge dynamics in Ethiopian education system (1991–2018)

Abstract

This study provides a Foucauldian genealogical analysis of the power and knowledge dynamics that shaped Ethiopia’s education system from 1991 to 2018. The analysis explores how a new governmental rationality, a hybrid of the ruling party’s “revolutionary democracy” and a global neoliberal discourse, was produced and institutionalized. Using policy documents and secondary sources, the study reveals four key findings: first, the state used disciplinary technologies to co-opt educational institutions and produce politically compliant subjects. Second, donor-driven reforms acted as a powerful form of governmentality, establishing a neoliberal regime of truth that prioritized market efficiency over academic expertise. Third, the resulting tension between quantity and quality was a predictable outcome of a biopolitical project that normalized mediocrity in favor of mass enrollment. Finally, these dynamics led to the systemic epistemic suppression and knowledge dispossession of Ethiopian academics. The study concludes that during this period, education was not a neutral social good but a central site for the exercise of power, where global and local forces converged to shape knowledge, produce subjects, and constrain professional agency.