During the Latin American oppression of the 1970s, as the rapidly increasing number of grassroots "popular" social movements sought to profit from and expand the ideas of the radical Brazilian educationist Paulo Freire, there developed, in its own right, a "popular education" movement which engaged in radical education for change independently of and often in direct opposition to the state. With the apparent demise of open dictatorship and the rise of formal, albeit limited, "democratic" states in the 1990s, the popular education movement began to debate the type of relationship it should now have with the state in this changed political context. In recent years the election of a number of left-leaning governments has made the issue even more urgent. Drawing comparisons with practice in the UK, this article explores the relationship between "popular" and "state" education in Latin America and argues that the strength of the popular education movement outside the state is the most likely determinant of its impact within it.