International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Ideological Polarization, Academic Freedom, and the Political War on Higher Education: A Comparative Review of Literature

Universities have emerged as crucial institutions for political, social, and ideological struggles that influence their independence, administration, and public reputation. With the aid of comparative case studies from Turkey, Hungary, the US, China, South Africa, and Australia, this review of literature investigates how political interventions by state and non-state actors redefine the purpose and autonomy of higher education. It emphasizes how colleges function as both contested sites of resistance and tools of political control by drawing on academic freedom scholarship, democratic backsliding, and governance theory. By highlighting context-specific solutions to issues like market pressures, authoritarian attacks, and the politicization of efforts to promote diversity, the review makes the case for renewed university commitments to democratic governance. It argues that revitalizing university governance requires adaptive and pluralistic models that respond to contemporary challenges while reaffirming the university’s public mission and role in sustaining democracy. This research focuses heavily on political science governance models since the discipline provides methods to generate ideas about and study universities as semi-autonomous political institutions that are part of larger social and political systems. It presents a programmatic vision for higher education's future as a stronghold of critical inquiry and democratic engagement by placing contemporary issues within theoretical and historical frameworks.