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Using “State Philanthropy” to Educate the Next Generation and Build Democracy

Abstract:This article posits a conceptual framework for understanding how what I call “state philanthropy” in education is used to build democracy. Using the example of Tunisia, the article looks at how states manage grantees, choose partners, frame problems, and evaluate philanthropic endeavors in education. In drawing from the International Relations literature on the conceptual scaffolding of soft diplomacy, the article examines the rise of state philanthropy in education where donor countries spend billions of dollars trying to (re)shape national educational systems under the guise of security. The article explores the difference between educational philanthropy (in the form of zakat, sadaqah, and waqf) and state philanthropy by explaining how the former is waning in support while the latter thrives under perceived new threats. By doing this, the article seeks to contribute to the existing literature on philanthropy by exploring how new actors (both state and non-state alike) are using soft diplomacy to reshape Islamic philanthropy in education. The article concludes by suggesting that we are now entering a complicated time in educational philanthropy that is no longer based on individual giving but one directed and dictated by the geometries of statist interventionism.