Authoritarianism and educational system reforms by the World Bank in LMICs

Purpose: This study investigates the relationship between the degree of authoritarianism and the World Bank’s (WB) promotion of decentralization reforms in educational systems across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where rigidly centralized institutions are often seen as barriers to improved educational outcomes. Research Methods: Drawing on original country-level panel data from 1965 to 2019 covering 99 LMICs, the analysis employs fixed-effects models with additional robustness checks to examine how regime type influences the WB’s decentralization agenda. Findings: The analysis shows a significant association between higher levels of authoritarianism and the WB’s promotion of decentralization reforms, which suggests that authoritarian regimes, characterized by highly centralized education systems, are more likely to be targeted by such reforms. Implications: These findings highlight that in authoritarian settings, decentralization may function not only as a governance reform but also as a political signal that allows regimes to align with international expectations, secure funding, or enhance legitimacy. More broadly, they show that the diffusion of reforms by international organizations depends not only on global agendas but also on the political structures of recipient countries.