Confronting Nationalist Tendencies: The Role of Citizenship Education, Media Literacy and Lifelong Learning in Supporting Democracy

Abstract

Against the backdrop of rising nationalist and populist tendencies, the chapter discusses the role of lifelong learning in reinforcing active citizenship and the democratic spirit. Considering that spaces for public debate are increasingly being shifted to online platforms and social media channels, the authors approach the issue from a communications perspective, focusing on how changing patterns of media communication have supported the increase of nationalist politics. They explore different conceptualizations of citizenship, focusing on the role of citizenship education and required key competences in this field, including media and information literacy. They consider how these concepts have been defined in the academic literature and by UNESCO and operationalized at national and local levels to counteract rising nationalist tendencies and promote a culture of democracy and peace. The authors argue that citizenship education needs to be framed within a lifelong learning perspective, as called for in Sustainable Development Goal 4. The scope of programmatic actions needs to extend from formal education to nonformal and informal learning and to address children and youth as well as adults. Furthermore, the authors argue that both media and information literacy and citizenship education need to receive increased attention as a content area of lifelong learning to counteract nationalistic tendencies and to raise more awareness of democratic values and social responsibility.