Exploring the Elephant in the Room

Exploring the Elephant in the Room: Attention to Economic Neo-liberalism in Development Education and International Development on the Island of Ireland was commissioned by Financial Justice Ireland and the Centre for Global Education.

This research, undertaken by Harm-Jan Fricke, investigates the attention given by DE/GCE practitioners to the dominant global economic system (neoliberalism) as the root cause of poverty, inequality, and injustice in their development education and/or international development practice.

The research identifies challenges and opportunities for interpreting the structural reality of neoliberalism in DE/GCE and highlights methodologies to support a systemic approach to addressing root causes.

Our hope is that the research findings in the report, largely drawn from approximately 40 respondents who work in the GCE sector, will contribute to guiding conversations and professional reflections on how best to address the economic root causes of poverty and inequality in our collective education work.