The label "comparative education" was first coined in 1817, and for the most part, the major issues that currently structure the field of comparative education date back to the nineteenth century, when the rise of the nation-state imposed the national framework as the dimension of reference in the study of educational systems. Two paradigms have stood in opposition since then: universalism, which consists of treating education as a phenomenon transcending borders, and particularism, which focuses on specific social and cultural features. Nowadays, the recourse to international classifications and indicators is giving rise to debates that develop and extend the bicentennial paradigms in new ways.