literature not written with the South Africancontext in mind, is to make the contents relevantto the specific audience of South African teachersand managers. The danger of uncritical transfer isa perennial issue widely acknowledged in Com-parative and International Education, and this isthe potential risk of a textbook-like volume thatuses literature and theories derived mainly fromWestern perspectives. In the South African con-text, this is further complicated by the persistentinequalities between schools in terms of financialand human resource capacity: one size will mostcertainly not fit all in terms of training needs. Theauthors make laudable attempts at getting aroundthis potential problem, by including activities thatinvite the reader to reflect on his or her ownworking environment and management concernsand to begin to question how generalisable theapproaches advocated here might be. Addition-ally, South African research evidence is used,where it exists. Some of the chapters are morecontextualised than others, and some writers haveused brief case studies to illustrate the issues usingSouth African examples. More of these, and awider range of representation in terms of types ofschool, would be welcome. Ultimately, it would begood to see the theories and models expoundedhere revisited and possibly modified in the light ofthe South African experience, or to see locallyderived theories and models employed morewidely: but these are for the long term.There is reference throughout much of the book

to some of the many challenges facing South

African schools, from resource shortages andgendered and authoritarian views of management,to HIV/AIDS and violence. Given the frighteningscale of the latter problems in particular, it wouldhave been good to see greater attention to theseand to the deep transformations required to beginaddressing them in schools, not least the linksbetween these crises and gendered behaviours.However, one book or series of books cannot doeverything: I would hope, though, that otherresources used in the education of school man-agers would complement this volume’s less politi-cised approach.The other books in the series are Managing

Human Resources in South African Schools

and Managing the Curriculum in South African

Schools. I imagine that for South African schoolsthis series provides a useful review of a selectionof influential management and leadership litera-ture, and a tool for reflection in the pro-fessional development of managers. Provided it isused with a critical eye on the risks of general-isation to all contexts, it may also be of interest topractitioners working in similar circumstanceselsewhere.

Michele SchweisfurthSchool of Education and Research, Centre for

International Education and Research,

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston,

Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

E-mail address: m.schweisfurth@bham.ac.uk

10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.09.021

Mark Olssen, John Codd, Anne-Marie O’Neill

(Eds.), Education Policy: Globalization, Citizenship

and Democracy, Thousand Islands, Sage, London,

Delhi, 2004 ISBN: 0-7619-7469-5 (hbk), 0-7619-

7470-9 (pbk), (326pp.)

This is a deeply impressive book. Its majorachievement is to provide a sophisticated butintelligible account of the emergence of liberalism,its modification within the social democratic

tradition, its re-invigoration through the ascen-dancy of the New Right and of the mechanismsthrough which this ascendancy has been estab-lished, especially the discourses of institutionalrestructuring, markets, professionalism andchoice. This account is provided within a Fou-cauldian framework, which is itself explainedthrough a careful analysis of post-structuralism,critical policy analysis and policy discourse. Theanalysis provided is clear, coherent, intelligible and

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Book reviews / International Journal of Educational Development 25 (2005) 470–475472

persuasive, showing a close familiarity with keytexts over a wide range of relevant literature. It is,in its breadth and clarity, indeed a tour de force.The whole point of this analysis is to frame an

approach to educational policy which is defensiblethrough a revision of the globalisation thesis thatcharges it with the task of democratising globalsociety. This is a fairly major challenge but onethat is defended by appeal to the need for a senseof (thin) community, an ideal of cosmopolitandemocracy, and an expansion of the notion ofsocial justice from the nation state to the increas-ingly connected global society. The mechanism bywhich such objectives might be achieved is arevitalised commitment to deepening democracythrough education within an ascendant educationstate: John Dewey on a global scale.The scholarship behind these arguments is

impressive; the articulation of the argument bothmoral and persuasive; the aspirations, admirable.It is a text that should be required reading forpolicy makers across the range of governmentalresponsibilities.This theoretical focus on the formation and

transformation of policy is the volume’s strength.It is also, in a somewhat perverse way, its centralweakness, for although the authors start from a

consideration of the role of education in societyand develop a strong argument for the establish-ment of the education state with global responsi-bilities and commitments, the policy implicationsof the position for education are boldly stated butlargely underdeveloped. It is surely rather strangein a book titled Education Policy for there tobe fewer than 30 of some 300 pages devotedspecifically to education policy. And while Deweyis an obvious source of inspiration and commit-ment to the integral relationship between educa-tion and democracy, the curricular andpedagogical implications of a move towards theglobalisation of democratic education (or is it thedemocratisation of global education?) surely needto be spelled out in greater detail than is done here.But the basis for advocacy of a theoretically

sophisticated and ethically defensible approach toglobal education policy is well developed here andshould be of wide appeal to educators and policymakers alike. Recommended reading.

Richard BatesFaculty of Education, Deakin University,

Pigdons Road, Geelong 3217, Australia

E-mail address: rbates@deakin.eu.au

10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.11.002

Philip J. Cooper, Claudia Maria Vargas, Imple-

menting Sustainable Development: From Global

Policy to Local Action, Rowfield Publishers Inc.,

Lanham (MD), ISBN 0-7425-2360-8 (hbk), 0-7425-

2361-6 (pbk), 2004 (US$28.95 (pbk), US$78.00

(hbk), 252pp. including bibliography and index).

At some stage in the environmental wars, itwas noticed that sides could not easily be dividedinto ‘bad’ and ‘good’. Economic development,represented by commercial interests, is necessaryto finance social development. Moreover, the rulesand regulations which may govern the use of theenvironment may inhibit the development neces-sary for the general welfare. If the sides are somuddled, how should one proceed?

This book is dedicated to the proposition thatthere is a general ‘model’ which can help balancethe various legitimate but opposing forces. Theauthors label this model ‘sustainable develop-ment’. They argue that it is shaped like a triangle,with social development, economic developmentand environmental protection as the three oppos-ing but necessary sides. They argue that the key toprogress is the consensus about how to balance thethree. They point out that sustainable develop-ment is both bottom up and top down. They saythat sustainable development is not simply aboutthe process of obtaining feedback or input, andthat it is not simply a model for planning. Theyclaim that sustainable development incorporatesthe utility of market forces and that it represents

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