Education Policy and Power-Sharing in Post-Conflict Societies

Does Education Help the Transition out of Power-Sharing in Plural Societies? A Comparative Study

“…Under the adversarial pressures of economic failure and of domestic and regional instability, power-sharing may become 'a permanent device that can fulfil the long-term goals of peacebuilding ' (McCulloch 2017, p.406;McCrudden and O'Leary, 2014). In this case, education's tendency to entrench, legitimate and reproduce consociationalism may facilitate the stable and smooth operation of the political system, as in the Lebanese case (see also Fontana, 2016).…”

“…on 'at least one other conflict-regulating strategy or principle' beyond consociation (O'Leary 2005, pp.34-35), from integration to power-dividing. Some have argued that these additional principles (including integration) may be embedded in education reform through -for example -mixed schooling (Fontana, 2016). Complementary mechanisms are also particularly relevant to burgeoning debates on the long-term impact of different varieties of power-sharing, on a spectrum between liberal and corporate power-sharing.…”

“…This topic is surprisingly under-researched, despite the prominence of education reforms in peace agreements which establish power-sharing (Fontana, 2018). Observing the proliferation of separate schools catering for children of different backgrounds in societies adopting power-sharing, some have proposed that education is an instrument to embed powersharing rather than to challenge its values and practices (Fontana, 2016). Based on this narrative, the first sub-question asks: Does education reproduce or challenge powersharing?…”

“…Depending on the confessional and political affiliation of the authors, different books emphasise different events and interpretations while rhetorically emphasising peaceful coexistence (Abouchedid and Nasser, 2000;Bashshour, 2005). If common curricula allowed Dutch schools to adapt to, and facilitate, transition out of power-sharing, it has been argued that the lack of common history curricula protects the integrity and stability of Lebanon's consociational political system (Fontana, 2016).…”

Troubles, transformation and tension: Education policy, religious segregation and initial teacher education in Northern Ireland

“…In terms of conflict resolution in societies deeply divided on religious and ethnonational lines, one of the key policy theories and approaches to emerge and achieve a degree of consensus as to its political effectiveness is that of consociationalism (Fontana, 2016). A political consociation is according to O'Leary (2005)…a state or region within which two or more cultural or national communities peaceably co-exists with none being institutionally superior to the others and in which the relevant communities cooperate politically through self-government and shared government.…”