This project aims to investigate the construction of the “international” in curriculum work in social science education in Sweden, England and Germany. The “international” will be handled as an understanding of a virtual global space that is constructed by local actors embedded in particular contexts. By perceiving the “international” not as an arena where certain phenomena are defined and disseminated into local contexts, but as constructed in the very local as various internationalities, we challenge impact-models that seek a path from the global down to the local. We approach our aim by focusing curriculum work in a field of education that by the character of its subjects has a deep interest in relating to the “international”. By asking the subject matter and didactic question of how global literacy is to be developed in social studies in secondary education, we investigate, through discourse analysis, the construction of a world-level that obviously makes such competencies necessary from the perspective of curriculum makers. We argue that such constructions differ regarding both levels of curriculum work and national contexts. A comparison of three countries, presenting three different traditions of curriculum work, will become an analytical device to understand the impact of the contexts both internationally and nationally. Our empirical study will comprise in all cases analyses of governmental documents concerning social science education, curriculum, syllabi and/or national standards and complementary materials. Furthermore, we will self-reflecting publicistic work of teachers in each of the subjects (teacher journals) and conduct focus group interviews with teachers. The data will cover all relevant levels of curriculum work.