The influence of international intergovernmental organisations on Slovenian adult education policies

Abstract

ABSTRACT The role of international intergovernmental organisations (IIOs) in global and/or European adult education policymaking has received significant attention in the field of adult education (AE) in the twenty-first century. However, empirical AE studies examining the impact of different IIO policies on country-level AE policies and practices, and the implications of under- or overestimating of that influence, are still scarce. The present study analysed the influence of three selected IIOs – the European Union (EU), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – on Slovenian AE policies, as a developed EU country, during the 1991–2018 period. We analysed historical and contemporary policies using documentary analysis and expert interviews, focusing on theoretical concepts of policy transfer and risk. Our findings indicated that the influence of IIOs on Slovenian AE policies has differed through time; policy transfer has come from multiple directions; IIOs have stimulated policy transfer through governance instruments; the contextual opportunities and risks Slovenia has faced – independence, EU membership, and the world economic crisis – have been supporting factors for IIOs’ policy transfer; and IIOs have promoted policy transfer and presented themselves as risk experts, able to manage the risks Slovenia is or could be facing.