Review: Power, Politics, and Higher Education in Southern Africa: International Regimes, Local Governments, and Educational Autonomy

Abstract

Power, Politics, and Higher Education in Southern Africa: International Regimes, Local Governments, and Educational Autonomy by Jose Cossa. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2008. 226 pp. ISBN 9781604975154. For more than 15 years, expanding student access to basic education has been identified by many countries as among their highest priorities. Revised timelines by 155 countries aim to achieve universal primary education (UPE) by 2015, and UPE is included as one of the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For African countries, however, this focus has meant a significant decline in attention given to promoting higher education, particularly in funding for national universities. Many international donors involved in applying MDGs for UPE tell countries that they must choose primary education funding above all other levels. Despite this commitment, primary education remains underfunded, clearly showing that governments do not have enough money for either primary or higher education, much less both. Consequently, Jose Cossa’s Power, Politics, and Higher Education in Southern Africa represents a welcome addition to an area of research that is severely lacking. Cossa’s aim is to analyze the interaction between African universities and the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade and Services (WTO/GATS), specifically “those concerns that relate to the conceptualization, interpretations, assumptions, and power relations manifest in the interaction” (p. 4). In light of the WTO’s stance on economic liberalization and its impact on higher education policy across the continent, Cossa focuses on the Association of African Universities (AAU) and draws on AAU documents to highlight their concerns. Specifically, he cites one AAU source concerned that integration of the WTO will intensify external forces to the detriment of internal decision-makers and that profit may become the priority rather than national development, especially for institutions that are struggling financially. To articulate the complexities of interactions between global and international regimes, Cossa analyzes their power dynamics through conceptual, qualitative, and quantitative analysis in interviews with employees from representatives from global international organizations, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the United Nations, and international organizations which operate on a regional levels, specifically the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Non-Allied Movement. These interviews cover issues of power affecting these donor organizations and African national governments, specifically hermeneutical, informational, manipulative, monetary, and regulatory powers. From the existing literature and these methods, Cossa gathers a number of useful findings in understanding power dynamics between regional (RIR) and