Stealing Time: Postcolonial Bureaucracies and the Iron Cage of Education
Abstract
This commentary argues that bureaucratic time theft is a form of postcolonial governance that extracts citizens’ time, energy, and dignity through redundant administrative procedures rooted in colonial mistrust. Using higher education as a key site, it shows how such systems sustain structural inequality and proposes pathways to escape this “iron cage” through trust-based and transparent institutional reform.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Global Educational Policies and Reforms
African cultural and philosophical studies
Foucault
Power
and Ethics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Business & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1428–1433
- Publication date
- 8 January 2026
- Language
- EN