Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the International Institute of Teachers College, Columbia University as formative in the development of comparative education, and considers Paul Monroe and Isaac L. Kandel as among its key architects. It shows that International Institute, from its founding in 1923 to its demise in 1938, had an enormous influence in shaping the field, mainly by preparing legions of committed comparativists, both in the US and abroad. The book focuses on William W. Brickman, like Kandel before him, William W. Brickman valued a strong grasp of social and national context in comparative studies but was also a fierce adversary of totalitarianism. It outlines Adams actively worked hand in hand with policy makers in his consultancies with the Peace Corps, Ford Foundation, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and several UN agencies.