Two assumptions of efforts to use the community in global studies are: (1) Local communities are significant points of origin and points of impact for much of what we mean by world affairs, and (2) the linkage between the community and world affairs creates for local people a legitimate citizenship interest and role with respect to world affairs. These assumptions hold whether we see the community primarily as an audience, as a support system, or as a curriculum resource for education on world affairs. The concept of international system should be used to help students organize and interpret phenomena that connect local communities and world affairs. This concept can help students to understand and appraise the consequences of their actions on others, near and far, and the effects of others' actions on them. Finally, students can learn how citizenship may be exercised similarly and differently with respect to individual and community interests that pertain to local, national, and international levels of activity. By forging local linkages with the global community, social studies educators can teach students that they are involved in the world, that the world affects their lives, and that interdependence is a fact of life. This perspective is critical if students are to understand the relationship between global interdependence and systems and their personal exercise of citizenship. If global education is to have a meaningful citizenship dimension, then the use of community based curriculum materials is essential. (JP)