Reconstructing Democracy And Citizenship Education

This book compares the current status of democracy in selected Eastern European countries. The focus is on young people’s attitudes towards and experiences of democracy, including active political engagement. In many of these countries, democracy has been hard-won and may well need to be defended again in the future. The contributors collectively reflect on young adults exercising their civic rights and how they can influence the political system at both formal and informal levels. The chapters present different issues that arise in unique contexts but overall reflect the changing status of democracy and its effects on young people’s citizenship activity and education. The volume compares perspectives of three groups of Eastern European countries with different traditions and past histories of democracy and citizenship: Central European countries (Poland, Czech, Hungary); Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia); and post-soviet republics (Ukraine, Moldova). These countries differ in the status given to democracy, citizenship action traditions and education. At the same time, many countries have experienced recent turbulence related to democracy and different kinds of actions by young people. Comparing them leads to conclusions about omissions made in current citizenship education provision and what needs to be done for a better understanding of the needs of citizenship education in these difficult times. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars in citizenship and civic education, sociology, political science and Eastern European Studies.

“An urgent manifesto for the reconstruction of democratic belonging in our troubled times.” —Davide Panagia Across the world, democracies are suffering from a disconnect between the people and political elites. In communities where jobs and industry are scarce, many feel the government is incapable of understanding their needs or addressing their problems. The resulting frustration has fueled the success of destabilizing demagogues. To reverse this pattern and restore responsible government, we need to reinvigorate democracy at the local level. But what does that mean? Drawing on examples of successful community building in cities large and small, from a shrinking village in rural Austria to a neglected section of San Diego, Reconstructing Democracy makes a powerful case for re-engaging citizens. It highlights innovative grassroots projects and shows how local activists can form alliances and discover their own power to solve problems.

Until recently, youth have become the great absence regarding matters of citizenship, justice, and democracy. Rarely are young people taken up with the important discourses of freedom and citizenship, especially discourses that transcend national boundaries and academic disciplines. Richard Mitchell and Shannon Moore have put together a brilliant book that not only fills this void, but makes one of the most powerful cases I have read for addressing young people in terms that not only allow them to talk back, be heard, but also to enjoy those rights and freedoms that give democracy a real claim on its ideals and promises. Every educator, parent, student, and all those young people now making their voices heard all over the world should read this book. Henry A. Giroux This diverse collection will appeal to students in senior undergraduate and graduate courses looking into the new cosmopolitanism in social policy, citizenship or cultural studies, in child and youth studies, and in post-colonial approaches to education, sociology, and political science.

This book eloquently argues that the citizenship mission of schools ought to teach students what is possible rather than simply objectifying them as human capital being prepared for the inevitable impact of the policies determined by others.

This volume surveys the new global landscape for democratic civic education. Rooted in qualitative researc, the contributors explore the many ways that notions of democracy and citizenship have been implemented in recent education policy, curriculum, and classroom practice around the world. From Indonesia to the Spokane Reservation and El Salvador to Estonia, these chapters reveal a striking diversity of approaches to political socialization in varying cultural and institutional contexts. By bringing to bear the methodological, conceptual and theoretical perspectives of qualitative research, this book adds important new voices to one of educationOs most critical debates: how to form democratic citizens in a changing world.

In recent years, there has been a shift in discourse internationally towards a greater recognition of the importance of democratic governments and institutions, and an explicit support for the development of democracy and citizenship through education. This book celebrates this shift with a diverse range of contributions. How democracy and citizenship are conceived, practised and researched in different national and educational contexts is explored in this collection, which brings together commentary from schoolchildren and international experts, researchers and practitioners, writers from the south and the north, and from established and new democracies. This volume will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in learning more about education, citizenship and democracy.

This volume examines both concepts and realities of citizenship education from various international and research perspectives. It is divided into two main sections. The first group of chapters are all by researchers closely associated with the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) study into citizenship education and focus on the findings reported in the study as well as on the processes of the study itself and the indications for the future. The second group of chapters report on research projects and complement the insights of the first group of chapters. Whereas Part One involves broadly quantitative empirical data, Part Two features chapters with a more qualitative approach. The chapters have a broad geographical range, including the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, the Czech Republic and Germany. They also report on a variety of different data sets, use different research approaches, and include findings from the large-scale IEA study as well as a personal account of a research network and two qualitative studies.

This book contains a revised collection of previously published articles spanning a period of five years (2004-2009) during which my original thoughts on democratic citizenship education have been developed. Central to this book is the notion that democratic citizenship education ought to be deliberative, compassionate and friendly in order that teachers and students (learners) may respect one another and take risks in and through their pedagogical encounters. In this way, hopefully, students and teachers may become more critical, explorative and engaging. - Yusef Waghid