Changing conceptions of development assistance to education in the international discourse on post-Soviet countries

The fall of the socialist system, and of the Soviet Union as a political entity, created a situation where external assistance to the transformation of the ex-Soviet countries into market economies and multi-party democracies became a domain of “development assistance”. While the attractiveness of the ex-Soviet countries to the providers of development assistance was obvious, it was less clear, what the possible legitimization could be for interventions in the education sector. On the basis of documentary data the article traces the conceptions of development assistance that are embedded in the international analyses of the state of education in the ex-Soviet countries and prescriptions for educational reform in these countries since the 1990s.

Research highlights▶ Soviet Union as a provider of educational assistance to developing countries and the Russian republic as a source of models and resources to the other Soviet republics. ▶ Growing polarization within the post-Soviet space with respect to economic and educational capacity. ▶ Re-emergence of Russia as a donor country in educational assistance.