Regional Education Organizations in the Arab World: A Case Study of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO)

Abstract

Abstract: While there are innumerable studies about global international organizations (IOs) in education, the role of regional organizations seems overshadowed by more powerful actors in the field, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Although they are important in their regions, little is known about them and their interactions with global IOs. This research reveals new insight regarding the role that regional organizations play in the design of education policy in the Arab world, including all 22 Arab-speaking states of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a region that is defined by a common language, culture and religion, and how these policies are shaped by the interaction between regional and global IOs. Using a postcolonial framework, a qualitative case study was conducted of a regional IO focusing on the Arab world and an important actor in education policy: the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). The analysis reveals how the ALECSO is unmoored between two trends that pull it in different directions: its spoken aim to counter Western hegemony in the region, and the dominance of certain IOs that necessarily define other organizations’ work.