On Merve Sancak's Institutions, Skills, Production Regimes and the Near Periphery, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2022

A leading scholar on the political economy of skill formation, Kathleen Thelen once noted that focusing on vocational training may not be the ‘most scintillating’ topic for some social scientists (Thelen, 2004, p. xi). Sancak’s book begs to differ. This is a very timely contribution to existing debates, given the limited number of studies that problematize vocational education policies in the Global South. Importantly, the book provides a multilayered study of training systems in two emerging markets: Mexico and Turkey. These economies have built ever closer ties with the global value chains over the last few decades. Especially in the ambit of automobile production, the demand for skilled labor in both countries has increased. In response to these pressures, Sancak finds that a lack of coordinated public investment in vocational education in Mexico has led to sub-optimal growth performance while Turkey has built a system that is characterized by strong state involvement in skill formation, leading to an inclusive growth trajectory.