In his introduction to this edited volume, Mario Novelli explores the complex relationship between education, conflict and international intervention. He outlines how the volume draws on empirical contexts across the Global South and North, with academics and practitioners critically examining how international actors engage with education systems in conflict-affected settings, highlighting the geopolitical interests, colonial legacies and structural inequalities that shape these interventions. f then gives an overview of the book, explaining how the chapters address urgent questions concerning the motivations behind external assistance, the uneven prioritization of crises, and the implications of global political dynamics. Rejecting the assumption that education is inherently benevolent, the volume foregrounds its dual potential: to reproduce exclusion, inequality and violence, or to cultivate resistance, solidarity and pathways to sustainable peace. The contributions draw on critical frameworks including political economy, critical peace education, postcolonial theory and global governance to illuminate how power operates within international educational assistance. Together, they argue for reimagining education as a deeply political and transformative process, rooted in local agency and oriented towards justice, decoloniality and sustainable ecological futures amid a rapidly shifting global order.