Abstract

In recent decades, there has been a revival of free tuition policies around the world. Understanding the current revival of these policies is particularly important as it positions higher education as a social right or public good challenging the predominant discourse that situates higher education as a private good. Chile, a country often characterized as a neoliberal laboratory, implemented a free-tuition policy in 2016 and offers a case study to understand the policy formation and the political dynamics behind it. Based on the advocacy coalition framework and using discourse network analysis and in-depth interviews, this paper focuses on identifying the main actors involved in the policy discussion, their beliefs about free college in Chile, and how they interact during the policy development. Findings show that the Chilean free tuition policy was the result of the joint actions of actors who shared similar beliefs and formed coalitions to try to influence the policy design. Findings also highlight the formation of two opposite coalitions that were able to introduce their beliefs into the policy design at political and technical levels. Implications for policymakers and researchers are discussed.

中文翻译：

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免费学费如何成为智利的一项政策：政策参与者及其信念的重要性

摘要

近几十年来，世界各地恢复了免费学费政策。了解这些政策目前的复兴尤为重要，因为它将高等教育定位为一项社会权利或公共利益，挑战了将高等教育定位为私人利益的主流话语。智利，一个经常被称为新自由主义实验室的国家，于2016年实施了免费学费政策，并提供了一个案例研究来了解政策的形成及其背后的政治动态。基于倡导联盟框架，利用话语网络分析和深度访谈，本文重点识别参与政策讨论的主要参与者、他们对智利免费大学的信念以及他们在政策制定过程中的互动方式。调查结果表明，智利的免费学费政策是具有相似信念并结成联盟试图影响政策设计的行为者联合行动的结果。调查结果还强调了两个对立联盟的形成，它们能够将自己的信念引入政治和技术层面的政策设计中。讨论了对政策制定者和研究人员的影响。