Higher education is deeply intertwined with political forces that shape its governance, funding, accessibility, and academic freedom. At CSHE, our research examines how political ideologies, policies, and power structures influence universities and colleges at the local, national, and global levels. From the impact of government regulations and funding decisions to debates over free speech, diversity, and institutional autonomy, our work explores the evolving relationship between higher education and politics. This page highlights CSHE’s research on the politics of higher education, providing insights to inform policy discussions and institutional decision-making.
Selected publications include:
Neo-Nationalism and Universities: Populists, Autocrats and the Future of Higher Education. John Douglass. Johns Hopkins Univeristy Press.
Two City-States in the Long Shadow of China: The Future of Universities in Hong Kong and Singapore by Bryan Penprase and John Aubrey Douglass CSHE 10.21 (September 2021)
History's Coils: The UC Nuclear Weapons Laboratories by Patricia A. Pelfrey.
California's Affirmative Action Fight: Power Politics and the University of California by John Aubrey Douglass
Let's Not Railroad American Higher Education! By Henry Brady
MONEY, POLITICS AND THE RISE OF FOR-PROFIT HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE US:A Story of Supply, Demand and the Brazilian Effect by John Aubrey Douglass. CSHE.2.2012 (February 2012)
The Learning Outcomes Race: the Value of Self-Reported Gains in Large Research Universities by John Aubrey Douglass, Gregg Thomson and Chun-Mei Zhao, Higher Education, February 2012.
Universities and the Entrepreneurial State: Politics and Policy and a New Wave of State-Based Economic Initiatives. John Aubrey Douglass. CSHE.14.06 (September 2006)
Politics, Markets, and University Costs: Financing Universities in the Current Era, by Roger L. Geiger
The California Idea and American Higher Education 1850 to the 1960 Master Plan by John Aubrey Douglass (2000)