The Political Economy of Education in Central Asia: Evidence from the Field

This edited book, exploring the political economy of education in Central Asia, is one of the outputs of the Political Economy of Education Research (PEER) Network, a three-year collaboration between the University of Ulster, the University of Sussex, the University of Cape Town, and the Nazarbayev University (2020–2023). The project aimed to bring together researchers from Central Asia and Africa, in their distinct regions, and together, to explore the way political economy and education systems, processes and practices interact, particularly in contexts of conflict and crisis, which these days, unfortunately, constitutes far too many parts of the world. The aim of the project was to support the production of new knowledge, new perspectives, and new understandings of the complex ways that education intersects with local, national, regional and global economic, political, cultural, and social factors and actors, and the effects of this on the possibility of education supporting the construction of sustainable, equitable, socially just societies. At the heart of the project was a recognition of the need to work with early career scholars from the two regions, to share information and knowledge, and to support them in their career development, at a time when the winds of economic and political crises threaten to undermine, delay, and subvert their aspirations. The early career researchers all became PEER Network Fellows.