After reviewing some of the features of the first phase of the evaluative State, the practice outlined in this article starts by briefly revisiting the (old) modernization theory before suggesting that some of its assumptions continue to a large extent to underlie the current international evaluative comparativism. This has become an increasingly dominant political agenda, at least since the late 1990s. Indeed, such period corresponds to what the author calls the second phase (or reconfiguration) of the evaluative State. The article further seeks to raise some questions and hypotheses about a third phase (the post-evaluative State phase) which, although as yet poorly defined, may become part of the continued capitalist expansion of policies of privatization and commodification of education (and evaluation).
modernization theory; reconfiguration of the evaluative State; international comparative evaluation
