Comparative education : the dialectic of the global and local Now in its fourth edition Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local remains the same groundbreaking book when it first debuted its collection of outstanding scholars in examining the changing transnational landscape of education. With the addition of new coeditor Stephen Franz the book provides new perspectives on the dynamic interplay of global national and local forces as they shape the functions and outcomes of education systems. The book calls for a rethinking of the nation state as the basic unit for analyzing school society relations and emphasizes the need to study social movements in relation to educational reforms. It also emphasizes the value of feminist postcolonial and culturally sensitive perspectives for inquiry into the potential of education systems to contribute to individual development and social change. This new edition incorporates recent developments in scholarship especially in education policy and practice the impact of the global economic crisis and a new chapter on education in the European Union.