Abstract
This study is focused on the democratic competencies and political participation of young people taking part in debate programs in seven “new” democracies – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, and Slovakia. The research employs conventional methods adopted from various established surveys for capturing the political attitudes and values of youths. Using a longitudinal research design, we compare results from debaters and their non-debating peers on three dimensions: political competence, democratic values, and political participation. The results of the pre-tests indicate that debaters’ attitudes are more in accordance with what a democratic theory would expect from active and engaged citizens. Participating in debate activities did not reveal significant attitudinal improvements during the short timeframe of our research (one school year), but the initial differences between debaters and non-debaters remained stable over time.
Highlights
Contemporary youth are often described as indifferent and passive citizens because of their dreadfully low electoral participation (Quintelier 2007: 177)
The current research on young people’s political participation and democratic attitudes has mostly focused on the situation of youths in Western democracies
The research was conducted in seven countries − the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, and Slovakia − as part of a wider project studying the impact of debate programme participation on young people
Summary
Contemporary youth are often described as indifferent and passive citizens because of their dreadfully low electoral participation (Quintelier 2007: 177). We describe the conducted research study and present the results based on originally collected empirical evidence on democratic competence, democratic attitudes, and on the political participation of youths who do and do not participate in debate programmes. Improvement in critical thinking represents the best documented benefit of competitive debating (Bellon 2000), which has been empirically proven by numerous studies regardless of the chosen definition of critical thinking (Allen et al 1999; Colbert 1987; Cronin 1990; Ennis 1987; Goodwin 2003; Green and Klug 1990; Jerome and Algarra 2006; Kennedy 2009).2 It is the same competence – critical thinking – which is repeatedly mentioned by experts on civic education as a crucial aspect in determining the understanding of rules and values that build up a democratic society (Beer, Cremer and Massing 1999; Burdewick 2003; Rhomberg 2009; Yoldaş 2015). In our quantitative study of young people’s political competencies, democratic attitudes, and political participation in “new” democracies, we surveyed a sample of high school. The results are similar to the effects identified in other studies measuring outcomes associated with debate participation, such as critical thinking (Allen et al 1999)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
