This chapter examines the use of international references as a source of legitimation in Swedish educational policy making from 1950 to 2018. Special attention is directed to the 2015/2018 Swedish school reform and the expanding role of the OECD in setting the political agenda. The discussion mainly draws on empirical findings from the POLNET-project funded by the Norwegian research council analyzing the references making up the official evidence base for the 2015/2018 school reform. Using bibliometric analysis, citations and references in white-, and green papers have been analyzed in order to find patterns in the way references are used as a source of legitimation. The preliminary result shows that transnational exchange has been an important part of Swedish schooling since the 1950’s onwards. However, moving into a context of global competition the importance of international references seems to increase. In the 2015/2018 school reform the OECD plays a central role as the Swedish government turns to the OECD for help. Externalization becomes the dominant strategy among insecure politicians to regain legitimacy. However, the result indicates that externalization is not a linear process, but rather a complex act of balancing internal and external pressures in a way that enables for national politicians to maintaining public legitimacy.