ABSTRACT
Internationalism, in the form of cultural or economic imperialism, and insensitive importation of alien models and methods, is likely to harm this work. What makes internationalism interesting, and important, in adult education, is its potential both for strengthening and for damaging local grassroots action. International comparative study in adult education has increased in the late twentieth century, as the growth of published materials bears witness. In the main, British adult education perhaps displays more pessimism than hope. It is unsurprising that much of this analysis of the crisis of liberal adult education emanates from and concentrates upon universities. The accounts of adult education projects in Africa, Asia and Aboriginal Australia which follow have more than curiosity value for adult educators in Britain and elsewhere in the West. If wide reach but modest effect characterised most of the large-scale government-led programmes described in National Development Strategies, some other findings bear repeating as a prelude to the small-scale, non-governmental stories which follow.
