Education under siege: Exploring how international economic sanctions create crises of pedagogy

Abstract
Purpose: This article examines the adverse impact of international economic sanctions on
pedagogy. The article considers the contemporary times as a period of misinformation, false news,
and untruths. Utilizing anti-hegemonic literature, international economic sanctions are viewed as
neoliberalism’s instrument of coercion, a Western weapon used to enforce Western values on
those with different perceptions toward the free market system.
Design/Approach/Methods: This article utilizes critical scholarship to unmask authoritarian
neoliberalism and a scoping review of sanctioned societies. Critical analytics are deployed to interpret
and make sense of the dominant educational policy framework that appears to be against diversity.
Findings: Neoliberalism has caused a crisis in pedagogy. Education is under siege as academics and
scientific evidence are being disregarded. The call is for pedagogues from all over the world to
continue to avail evidence to power by practicing critical education. Literature is utilized to
propose critical pedagogy when scientific evidence is disputed, and non-Western epistemologies
are considered anachronous.
Originality/Value: Linking sanctions and neoliberalism is relatively novel, as is the contribution of
the same lenses to authoritarian neoliberalism. The assault on divergent epistemologies is critical and the defense of critical scholarship is every academic’s duty. The article joins conversations on
the neoliberal assault on education and society.