Programme planning models found in the current body of literature provide some practical strategies for developing effective adult education programmes, but how political and economic systems of a country shape the nature and scope of planning is missing. This paper aims to fill this theoretical void by bringing political economy perspective into scholarly discussion. The paper theorises that the state, the market, and the civil society are key components for undertaking political economy analysis. It focuses on how different coordination mechanisms among these components affect the way adult education planners define and undertake needs assessment. The main argument of the paper is that since strengthening democracy is one of the key objectives of adult education, planners should prioritise the needs of marginalised adults over the needs of the state and the market.