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International organisations were the main proponents of lifelong learning when the concept was first developed in the early 1970s. Although different organisations used different labels - lifelong learning, recurrent education, education permanente - they all emphasised that learning is a lifelong process and that all education should be organised around that principle. In the 1990s the idea re-emerged, again conceptualised and propagated by international organisations, this time however with a strong human capital rationale. Unlike the first generation notion this new concept was espoused both by governments of the Western industrialised countries and industry. The author critically discusses the role of international organisations in the conceptualisation and implementation of lifelong learning. He argues that international organisations do not operate on their own but that their debates and agendas are influenced by national governments who use them for pushing and legitimatising their own political agendas.