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In the following paper we discuss the issues of democracy (and human rights) from the point of view of education in two countries; South Africa and Sweden. The study´s point of departure is the ongoing globalisation of education policies that has been described by several authors. The paper examines the relationship between education and democracy in the context of emerging powerful global forces that are increasingly converging education policies of nations. The aim of our paper is to compare national policies on democracy and human rights, in relation to international policies with a view of understanding the culturally asymmetrical power representation of the ideas derived from international (Western) organizations such as UN, OECD, World Bank etc. With the rising interest for cosmopolitan theories on democracy it can be questioned whether supranational organisations contribute to the development of a cosmopolitan democracy that moves beyond current conceptions on nation-states, or if these developments cement the ideas of communitarians who hold that democracy cannot be dissociated from the state as a sovereign entity. Against this backdrop this paper will focus on the following questions: Will globalisation strengthen or weaken democratic developments in education? What challenges and transformations present themselves within a Swedish and South African context? Have new global dynamics influenced educational development? Through reflections on the policies of Sweden and South Africa we want to highlight context specific issues and to note where these intersect with wider forces which are impacting upon education in more global (universal) way. These processes have certainly effects on national policy making and ultimately the implementation of these policies in teacher education and school classrooms. In order to avoid setting up a "North" versus "South" dichotomisation it seems more fruitful to focus on the dialectic of the global and the local. In the paper