Through an analysis of 245 issues of the "Community College Journal" published between 1950 and 2013, we show how three discourses--international understanding and geopolitics, economic competitiveness, and global citizenship--informed practical reasoning about a rising global imaginary and its implications for the community college. By demonstrating shifts in practical reasoning among policy actors, we illuminate at least in part the ideological nature of the policy process. Ultimately, a better knowledge of the normative aspects of the policy process may help policy scholars proactively inform policy.