The authors discuss cooperation between immigrant associations and public institutions for adult education in Sweden. They emphasize, on the one hand, the growing importance for social inclusion of activism among immigrant associations, and, on the other hand, their stigmatization and subordinate position. Based on empirical case studies from metropolitan Stockholm, the authors argue that these associations have become more or less institutionalized in terms of new partnerships (between state, municipality, and voluntary organizations) and have taken over a number of service functions from the receding welfare state. Focusing on issues of cooperation in the area of adult education, the authors examine problems of partnership and conclude that partnership is asymmetrical and problematic. Contextualizing a changing institutional system of adult education and its role in the social inclusion of migrants, they characterize these problems in terms of unequal dialogue, a culturally defined hierarchy, and adjustment to market exigencies.