Education or Indoctrination? The Violent Origins of Public School Systems in an Era of State-Building

Why do modern states regulate and provide mass education? This article proposes a theory of education as a state-building tool that is deployed when mass violence threatens the state’s viability. Experiencing mass violence can increase national elites’ concern about the masses’ moral character and/or the efficacy of repression or concessions alone to maintain social order. Under such circumstances, a mass education system designed to teach obedience can become an attractive policy tool to prevent future rebellion and promote long-term social order. Consistent with the theory, I detect a cross-national pattern of primary education expansion following civil wars in Europe and Latin America. In a complementary study of the 1859 Chilean civil war, I show that the central government responded by expanding primary schooling in rebel provinces not as a concession but to teach obedience and respect for authority. The theory helps explain why non-democracies often expanded mass education.