The Pakistani Constitution promises “free and compulsory” education for all, but 20 million children are not in school. Many who are enrolled receive poor-quality education: surveys show Pakistani students ranking among the lowest achievers in the world. This has led families in all but the lowest income groups to seek private alternatives for their children, weakening the constituency for improved public schools. Under Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government has pushed for a Single National Curriculum. Critics contend that it will not address lack of access or the poor quality of education, but that it could lead to restrictions on school choice, provincial autonomy, and linguistic diversity, while imposing a narrow vision of national identity.

The rapid shift to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the penetration of an algorithmic world view into education systems around the world. Promoted by a burgeoning educational technology industry, platforms that use algorithms to structure and monitor teaching and learning have been presented as technical solutions to systemic problems. But they have also created new problems and reinforced existing inequities, stirring up public and political backlashes. Beyond its immediate effects during the pandemic in 2020, the expanded use of algorithm-driven learning management systems backed by major corporations has major implications for the future of global education.

The precarity of daily existence for so many black middle-class South Africans is heightened by dependence on political connections.

“For many … significant upward mobility remains a doubtful prospect, while substantial downward mobility is a real possibility.” Eighth in a series on social mobility around the world .

“The AKP's neoliberal regime created the ideology and conditions for transformative change in Turkey's new upper-middle-class culture, which trickled down to both the laic and Islamic middle-class factions.” Fourth in a series on social mobility around the world .

“The fall of the Soviet Union sparked hopes that a Russian middle class would emerge and thrive, but so far it has not.” Second in a series on social mobility around the world .

[T]he intertwined nature of language, politics, and identity permeates the nation, its institutions, and the public and private lives of its citizens.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the new president, needs to restore public confidence in a ruling party eroded by the corruption associated with his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. Here are some ideas he could try.

A rising middle class in Pakistan is striving to reconcile aspirations for a modern lifestyle with a desire for a deeper embrace of Islam as a guide to everyday ethics.

The growing wealth gap has eroded support for liberal democracy by exposing its unfulfilled egalitarian promises. A renewal of civic obligations could be the best defense against creeping plutocracy.

[T]he drift toward Brexit reflected a slow but persistent shift in the overall structure and attitudes of the country's electorate.

The challenge for Chile is to ensure that policy making and governance are democratized further.

Contrary to conventional predictions, the growth of protest and civil society in contemporary China seems more conducive to the resilience of authoritarianism than to imminent democratization.

As more women get educated and move to the cities, they become the face of a society in transition. Tragically, they also become targets in the conflict that accompanies this transition.

Multitudes are escaping poverty in developing nations while rich economies stagnate.

Our species has freed itself from formerly binding demographic patterns and limits.

The international community has hailed impressive strides toward the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, but Africa lags because of a late start, despite its more recent successes. Will the next set of goals avoid arbitrary and unrealistic targets?

Inequality in India could be much more efficiently reduced through reforms that shrink the costly system of transfers, increase the role of markets in resource allocation, expand infrastructure investments, and improve the delivery of education and health care.

The results of in-depth analyses for Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico reveal two main factors that explain this phenomenon: a fall in the premium that favors skilled over unskilled labor, and more progressive government transfers targeting the poor.

To make progress toward moving a majority of the world's population into better circumstances, we must adopt a more nuanced view of what constitutes poverty.