The effect of education on democratisation: A review of past literature and suggestions for a globalised context

By Ryan Wells (University of Iowa, IA, USA) in Globalisation, Societies and Education, Volume 6, Issue 2 2008 , pages 105 – 117

Abstract

Democratisation is an important component of current globalisation trends, and education is commonly thought to lead to greater democratisation. Thus, education holds a prestigious place in political development discourses. Are policies that promote this belief grounded in research-based evidence, or simply the propagation of institutionalized myths? This study reviews the literature concerning education's effect on democratisation. Ultimately, the evidence is inconclusive, and cannot justifiably be used to support an education-democratisation link at the national level. Therefore, this review concludes with a call for a revitalized research effort concerning education and democratisation that uses new approaches to account for a newly globalised context.

Keywords: democratisation; political development; educational research