Introduction
Julia Smith Coyoli is a doctoral student in Harvard's Government Department, with interests in Latin American politics and the political economy of education in developing countries. A former Fulbright IIE scholar and Princeton in Latin America fellow, Julia earned a BA in Latin American Studies and Educational Studies from Macalester College (St. Paul, MN) and an MSc in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (Mexico City). Her publications appear in Latin American Perspectives (forthcoming), NACLA, and the Journal of Undergraduate International Studies. She is currently developing a dissertation that focuses on the politics of educational quality (learning) in Latin America. Recognizing that many countries have passed national reforms without a corresponding improvement in student learning, her dissertation focuses on the politics of implementation. The subnational implementation of education reform faces two constraints: (1) the lack of political incentives for executives to take on politically costly reforms—where voter demand is weak and a well-organized interest group (teachers’ unions) presents strong opposition; and (2) weak state capacity. She argues that these constraints can be overcome when local education authorities committed to the reform are in place and can obtain state capacity either via existing sources or by creating it via an effective bargain for the teachers’ union’s cooperation. She tests this argument using the case of the implementation of education reform in the Mexican states, which, despite a common national reform, exhibit wide variation in student learning outcomes.