This article examines the role of the state and of education in relation to globalisation and argues that it is not a question of globalisation "or" the nation-state, but of globalisation "and" the nation-state. In order to understand how globalisation might be represented as having both positive and negative effects on states, two forms of globalisation are distinguished, one which attests to the growing interconnectedness of states, and another which relates to the neoliberal policy agenda amongst western countries since the 1970s. The final section of the paper argues for a version of cosmopolitan democracy based on Foucault's writings, which I term "thin communitarianism". It argues that if survival and security are to be possible, then strategies that preserve the openness of power structures, based on dialogical communication are necessary as a way, in Rorty's (1998) sense, of keeping the conversation going. (Contains 42 notes.)