A comparative investigation of how municipalities in Sweden and Norway organize their work with children with special needs is presented. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are sociocultural (cf Nilholm, 2006), implying that issues such as "special needs" and "inclusion" are to be understood in relation to characteristics of particular educational systems and sociocultural contexts. Zygmunt Bauman's (2004) conception of social culture and politics where he argues that we have handed over the social state's protection of an inclusive society in favour of a society built on individualism and exclusion will also be used as a frame of reference in the interpretation of data. Comparative research is a fruitful approach for investigating these phenomena since it highlights the specifics of development in a particular context. At the same time, Sweden and Norway share characteristics which probably account for similarities in the development of inclusion/special education (Egelund, Haug and Persson, 2006).A brief background of the development of the educational systems in Norway and Sweden is provided, especially as regards issues of "special needs", "inclusion" and the emergence of market solutions. National statistics and earlier research indicate that there are considerable differences as to the number of pupils who receive special educational support in the two countries. In Sweden around 17 percent of all pupils in the compulsory school are provided this type of support, while in Norway, 5.5% (Solli, 2005) of pupils receive such assistance. In the main part of the presentation, results of a questionnaire to all communities in Norway (431) and Sweden (290 communities) is reported. Response rates were 60% and 90 % for Norway and Sweden, respectively. The presentation will report results regarding ideological issues, organizational solutions and how communities conceive issues of power with regard to special needs. The focus will be on the general picture rather than on differences between specific communities. The outcome of the two questionnaires is related to the development of the two educational systems and to the proposals made by Bauman. In Sweden and Norway, segregated solutions in the form of special schools, special classes or small groups are uncommon in an international perspective. For this and other reasons, schools have to adapt to differences between children to a large extent within the classroom setting. The questionnaires from the two countries suggest that while national policy and objectives play a significant role in determining distribution of resources and the content of instruction, a number of features of recently developed "inclusive" models can be identified at the local level. In the Swedish context, the overall picture suggests that an individualistic notion of special needs still is common. At the same time, there are clear tendencies that special needs are increasingly seen as something that communities understand within a broader frame of reference. In the Norwegian context, there is drastic variation across communities. However, data suggest that leadership in large part view the issue of support for pupils with special needs in a similar light to their counterparts in Sweden, as underlying trends toward a sociocultural interpretation of learning differences and pupil support are evident.Bauman, Z. (2004) Wasted Lives: Modernity and its outcasts. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.Egelund, N., Haug, P. & Persson, B. (2006). Inkluderande pedagogik i skandinaviskt perspektiv. Stockholm: Liber. Nilholm, Claes. Special education, inclusion and democracy. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 21 (4), 431-447. Solli, K. (2005). Kunnskapsstatus om spesialundervisningen i Norge. Mediahuset GAN: Utdanningsdirektoratet. European journal