Comparative Higher Education Politics: Policymaking in North America and Western Europe

This volume provides an overview of the state of the art of research on the politics of higher education policy in Canada, the US, and Western Europe. Each thematic chapter combines an extensive literature review with original empirical work that further advances our understanding of policymaking dynamics in higher education.

The book covers five key aspects of policymaking, namely the politics of governance as well as funding reforms, the role of interest groups, policy diffusion, and policy framing. These aspects are explored using a unique comparative design that combines comparisons within as well as between regions, and among the five key aspects of policymaking. The conceptual framework is anchored in approaches from institutional theory, namely sociological and historical institutionalism.

“This rare book coherently focuses on the same critical challenges that higher education faces in a changing global and national environment. These include vital governance and finance issues and how these are framed and contested by different organizations and interest groups as well as state actors. Within a broad institutionalist framework that reflects the tensions between historical university and national legacies on the one hand and regional and global influences on the other, the authors focus on policymaking in Western Europe, Canada, and the US. This is an engaging and creative endeavor, a must-read for scholars and policymakers alike.”

Francisco O. Ramirez, Graduate School of Education Stanford University

“This is a real achievement that will contribute to the development of research in politics of higher education policy, finance, and economic development. It is timely in an era when higher learning is increasingly salient to national policy, interest groups, and supranational bodies such as the EU. The focus on Canada, the US, and Europe frames a comparative approach to a competitive higher educational policy arena that has not received systematic study."

Sheila Slaughter, Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia

“This fills a gaping hole in research on the politics of higher education. In bringing together research perspectives from governance studies with comparative public policy as well as scholars from Europe and Northern America, this volume will serve as an important reference point for a rapidly growing research field. The exceptionally high quality of editorship is documented by the fact that the chapters are convincingly subsumed under five sub-themes. In short: A must-read for any researcher and student interested in understanding the political foundations of higher education.”

Marius R. Busemeyer, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz