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65 Int'l Soc. Work 3 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/intsocwk65 and id is 1 raw text is: Article International Social Work 2022, Vol. 65(1) 3-16 Locating international education ©TheAuthor(s)2019 Article reuse guidelines: as a site to debate and re-imagine sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1 177/0020872819842936 democracy in Canada journalssagepub com/home/isw OSAGE Eunjung Lee University of Toronto, Canada Marjorie Johnstone Dalhousie University, Canada Abstract Equity is inherent to democracy and the stated mission of the social work profession. We contend that neoliberal values re-define democracy, as if market-driven ideology, practices, and modes of governance are the essence of democracy, and this further precludes us from re-imagining democracy-to-come. To illustrate how democracy is undergoing a metamorphosis, we use the international education policies in Canada as a case study. Informed by Deleuze and Guattari's work on the construct of the rhizome, we illustrate how complex rhizomatic systems in the global market have been endlessly devised while legitimizing neoliberal products as the 'real'/democracy in international education. Keywords Education policy, foreign students, Ontario, social democracy, social welfare state Introduction There are two areas of concern often discussed in social work and international education litera- ture. First is the adjustment and assimilation of international students and the discrimination and racism they must contend with (Chirkov et al., 2008; Kuo and Roysircar, 2006; Popadiuk, 2009; Smith and Khawaja, 2014). The other is the debate between 'brain drain' and 'brain circulation' (Robertson, 2006). The former studies assist social workers to understand the personal challenges of international students, thus enriching direct practice, and yet have been criticized as individual- izing social issues into personal shortcomings (Lee and Johnstone, 2014). The latter debate extends social worker attention into the structural policy-related issues, which this article focuses on. The political debate around international education and immigration originates from post-colonial Corresponding author: Eunjung Lee, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 246 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON M5S Al, Canada. Email: eunjung.lee@utoronto.ca