Debating Global Polity, Policy Crossing, and Adult Education

Abstract

This article revisits the concept of “global polity” as a useful conceptual tool for studying public policy development in adult education. First, it describes the relations between polity, policy, and praxis and how these are addressed in adult education re- search. Then, it reviews how policy is conceptualized in terms of material and ideational crossing as well as of social and political crossing. Next, the article advocates integrating these perspectives with an actor-network “sensitivity” to better capture the complexity of the global-local tensions between polity, policy, and the practices these shape in diverse socioeconomic and political systems. Put briefly, the article argues for the need to de- construct the false belief in education that what is “global” is intrinsically distinct from the characteristics of geographical or social territories; instead, it points to localized norms and ideas as ultimately contained and constituting what is (often) perceived as global.