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Stealing Time: Postcolonial Bureaucracies and the Iron Cage of Education

Hamza Israr

Business and Society2026https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503251409944article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

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.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503251409944

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@article{hamza2026,
  title        = {{Stealing Time: Postcolonial Bureaucracies and the Iron Cage of Education}},
  author       = {Hamza Israr},
  journal      = {Business and Society},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503251409944},
}

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Stealing Time: Postcolonial Bureaucracies and the Iron Cage of Education

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.