Space, Power, and Globalization: On the Geopolitics of Higher Education

Journal article

Purpose: After reviewing global ontology and spatiality, globalization (worldwide convergence and integration), geopolitics, and the interacting national and global scales, the paper tracks the changing geopolitical order in general and in higher education in two main historical phases: Western-dominated and primarily U.S.-led globalization from 1990 to 2015, and partial deglobalization in the West and the American decoupling since 2015. Design/Approach/Methods: The paper develops an original theorized historical synthesis, drawing on a range of scholarly and empirical sources. Findings: The uneven but widespread post-2015 Western pushback against cross-border connections has been triggered by (a) the erosion of the longstanding colonial order and the growing global multiplicity in agency, culture, and identity, including the rise of China and much of the global South; and (b) the neoliberal immiseration of Euro-American populations which has helped to fuel populist politics. Normative internationalization and cosmopolitanism have given way to assertions of singular national identity and the weakening of multilateralism, nativist resistance to migration, including cross-border student mobility, and the U.S.-engineered partial breakdown in relations between the U.S. and China in political economy, technology, science, and universities. Originality/Value: The paper contributes a unique understanding to the condition of worldwide higher education and science.

Authors: Marginson, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Journal: ECNU Review of Education
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 2
• Article number: 20965311251352111
• Publication date: 2025-07-01
• Acceptance date: 2025-06-02
• DOI: 10.1177/20965311251352111
• EISSN: 2632-1742
• ISSN: 2096-5311
• Language: English
• Keywords: science; Geopolitics; globalization; human geography; higher education; spatiality