Introduction

This introduction sketches the main characteristics of a political economy approach to education in Latin America and its contributions to current debates and understandings of education in the region. We stress that a political economy approach implies considering the close relationship between political and economic phenomena and how conflicts between actors animate their dynamic. In terms of education, this implies (i) understanding the key role of education as skills formation and its implications for countries' development, (ii) incorporating research on vocational education and training (VET) as an important part of educational systems, and (iii) bringing in new actors into the discussion-notably businesses and unions-as well as casting a new light on other actors and problematics usually involved in education politics, like the state, state capacity and decentralization dynamics, international organizations and diffusion processes, public opinion, societal demands and their relationship with governments' programs. It then discusses the main contributions of the book in terms of the novel treatment of VET in the region, insights into the role of employers and unions in the politics of education, and the discussion of issues of state capacity and policy legacies, international diffusion and translation, and new and old challenges related to migration, business coordination for high technology production, and inequality. Finally, the introduction summarizes the chapters of the book and their main insights.