{"id":33056,"date":"2025-02-17T22:52:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/"},"modified":"2025-02-17T22:52:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:52:29","slug":"the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia","status":"publish","type":"publications","link":"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/","title":{"rendered":"The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This paper examines the quality of primary education provision in Cambodia using a \u2018political settlements\u2019 framework developed at the University of Manchester. The framework characterises Cambodia as a \u2018hybrid\u2019 settlement with a weak dominant party and predatory administration, albeit with some islands of administrative effectiveness. Such states can achieve developmental progress in circumscribed areas with multi-stakeholder support, but more wide-ranging, top-down reforms will normally disappoint. We use the framework retrospectively to explain the balance between quantity and quality in Cambodia\u2019s education provision, and also prospectively to assess the prospects for reform. We conclude that, although new leadership in the education ministry promises to bring faster, deeper reform than ever before, powerful forces for inertia still exist. These forces could potentially be alleviated with enhanced international support, but development partners\u2019 current ways of working leave much to be desired. The paper concludes by outlining a number of policy options.<\/p>\n<p>Link to the article:\u00a0https:\/\/www.effective-states.org\/working-paper-58\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This paper examines the quality of primary education provision in Cambodia using a \u2018political settlements\u2019 framework developed at the University of Manchester. The framework characterises Cambodia as a \u2018hybrid\u2019 settlement with a weak dominant party and predatory administration, albeit with some islands of administrative effectiveness. Such states can achieve developmental progress in circumscribed areas with multi-stakeholder support, but more wide-ranging, top-down reforms will normally disappoint. We use the framework retrospectively to explain the balance between quantity and quality in Cambodia\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33056","publications","type-publications","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia - CDRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia - CDRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This paper examines the quality of primary education provision in Cambodia using a \u2018political settlements\u2019 framework developed at the University of Manchester. 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We use the framework retrospectively to explain the balance between quantity and quality in Cambodia\u2019s [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CDRI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-17T15:52:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/\",\"name\":\"The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia - CDRI\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-17T15:52:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-17T15:52:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/the-political-economy-of-primary-education-reform-in-cambodia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publications\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/publications\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/\",\"name\":\"CDRI\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CDRI\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/CDRI-logo-color-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/CDRI-logo-color-1.png\",\"width\":2548,\"height\":935,\"caption\":\"CDRI\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cdri.org.kh\/new\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia - CDRI","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Political Economy of Primary Education Reform in Cambodia - CDRI","og_description":"This paper examines the quality of primary education provision in Cambodia using a \u2018political settlements\u2019 framework developed at the University of Manchester. 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