Defending liberal international business education: a critical perspectives framework

Purpose This paper draws attention to historically circular and currently globally rising illiberalism and state-sanctioned intolerance that oppresses academic freedom and free speech, affecting the content and methods of international business (IB) education. This paper aims to propose a critical perspectives (CPs) framework and a set of actions directed at defending liberal IB education. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on action-oriented examples of CP and specifically the idea of coexisting multiple approaches to problem-solving. Accordingly, the authors propose a spectrum with three parts for integrating CP into IB education and discuss specific actions to be taken across all the components of the IB curriculum (learning goals, content, teaching methods and assessment) in each part of the spectrum. Findings The depth and level of engaging with CP in IB education depend on the restrictions of the social, political, business and academic environment and the educator’s personal capabilities and preference to engage with critical scholarship and radical critique. Considering external and internal constraints, IB educators may choose to design courses and programs by focusing on raising awareness and tolerance, facilitating evaluation and solution creation or leading restorative actions and fighting oppression. Originality/value The paper elaborates on how CP can be embedded in the IB curriculum, especially under conditions where scholars may fear sanctions or lack skills to oppose the institutionalized constraints. The framework invites for reconciliation, empowering IB education to rise above dogmatism, foster diverse ideas going beyond neoliberal formatting of IB education, secure academic freedom and defend against pressures for uniformity in thought, values and action.