A Review Essay—The Politics and Governance of Basic Education: A Tale of Two South African Provinces

This insight sets out to review a book on South African education that simultaneously tackles a very hard question and argues, by demonstrating their use, that a set of analytical frameworks helps tackle that question—and, by broader implication, that these analytical frameworks will also help tackle other development challenges. The very hard question the book wants to address is, “Why is learning achievement in South Africa so low?