Democratic Citizenship Research Articles

Folk Constitutionalism, or Why it Matters How Ordinary People Think about the Constitution

ABSTRACT A truly inclusive democratic politics must be understandable, or cognitively tractable, for ordinary people busy with the rest of their lives. This extends not only to everyday politics and policy, but to constitutional politics as well—non-specialist democratic citizens should be able to grasp the fundamental law that governs them and imagine their own role in shaping it as political agents. Yet these requirements raise a difficulty: in many countries, including the United States, constitutions are treated as the exclusive domain of lawyers and judges. As a result, constitutional matters are typically discussed using legalistic jargon that is inscrutable even to non-specialist lawyers, let alone ordinary citizens. How then can constitutional politics be made legible to ordinary citizens? In this essay, I argue this challenge is partly one of political ideas—specifically, the ideas ordinary citizens use to think about their constitutions, or their folk constitutionalism. This may sound strange because insofar as constitutions are treated as lawyers’ exclusive turf, the problem may seem to be one of practice, not merely ideas. But popular practices of what scholars like John Finn and Elizabeth Beaumont call popular or civic constitutionalism involve citizens and social movements in transforming constitutions. These transformations often occur behind the backs of everyone involved, as new frames and understandings come to gradually transmute constitutional meaning, which in turn pervades the public political culture and reshapes the public’s constitutional imagination. I suggest we need ideas that more closely reflect what democratic citizens already do in democratic constitutional politics, so that they can do it more self-consciously and dispel the impression of an anti-democratic lack of control that recent constitutional innovations reveal to be illusory. I explore the utility of ideas of unwrittenness and functional multi-textuality to the end of a folk constitutionalism appropriate for democracy.

Educação para uma Cidadania Democrática: da formação inicial de professores às práticas de sala de aula em Portugal

Teacher training, at Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa, has since 2020 included a curricular unit in the master's degree in Teaching in the 1st cycle and Portuguese and History and Geography of Portugal in the 2nd cycle, which aims to develop Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC). Taking as a reference the 20 CDC (Council of Europe, 2017), the training component in the field of Didactics of ​​Social Sciences (DSS) was reformulated, introducing changes in the curricular unit Society, Culture and Territory. These changes have produced visible results in supervised teaching practices (6-12 years old). This article focuses on critical reflection on the teaching and learning strategies experienced in initial training, within the scope of DSS, mobilized in the practices with students aged 6 to 12. The objectives are: (1) to recognize the effects of the strategies implemented in initial training in the field of CDC; (2) analyse the skills developed by elementary school students and reflect on the practices for the development of these skills; (3) analyse the CDC valued in students' practices and the results of their pedagogical-didactic projects. Methodologically, a documentary analysis is carried out that frames the CCD in initial teacher training and a content analysis of the twelve final master's reports (2021 to 2023), which focus on a pedagogical-didactic intervention and research on development of CDC (strategies, activities and evaluation indicators). The first result points to the recognition of the role of DSS in initial training within the scope of CDC: through content and training methodologies, SS facilitate practices aimed at building critical and democratic citizenship. Secondly, the impact of projects implemented in elementary school classes is highlighted, with the purpose of promoting CDC: evidence of the relevance in guiding future teaching practice towards training children and young people to read, interpret critically and intervene in the social reality in which they are inserted.

La formación inicial del profesorado de primaria en educación para la ciudadanía. Estudio de casos en Latinoamérica

This article identifies, analyzes and interprets what happens with citizenship education in the initial training of generalist teachers, in university programs in Latin America. The methodological strategy is the documentary analysis of the citizenship education curriculum in three academic programs in Chile, Argentina and Colombia, which train primary school teachers and who agree to participate voluntarily in the study. The results identify that the purposes and objectives of the programs for the initial training of generalist teachers focus on global citizenship. In the study plans, the contents planned for teaching the area are few and focused on theoretical concepts related to national citizenship, which do not favor the development of critical thinking or the political training of teachers, which are essential aspects to train students future teachers and transformative intellectuals (Giroux, 2006). The analysis concludes that general teachers are not being trained to educate primary school boys and girls as critical and democratic citizens. Academic programs have the challenge of proposing problematizing curricula, in which future teachers acquire the professional skills to analyze and understand the complexity and interdisciplinarity of social knowledge and, to guide the area of ​​citizenship in primary education in the construction of democratic culture and social justice.

Exploring the political frontier in Australian schools: Bernsteinian insights on Civics and Citizenship education

Contemporary liberal democracies face complex and disruptive challenges, such as toxic populism, culture wars, political polarization, religious fundamentalism, the climate emergency, global conflicts, and the influence of powerful social media platforms. This is the disconcerting world that young people are growing up in and need support in understanding and mediating. This paper critically analyses the Australian Civics and Citizenship education curricular response using the theoretical insights of Basil Bernstein to understand the types of citizens it aims to nurture. Through analysing the language of the Australian Curriculum, the processes and intellectual influences behind its creation, and specific curricular content descriptors, the paper illuminates the social and ideological assumptions embedded in its vision of educating for democratic citizenship. We argue that political education remains a domain that Australian curriculum framers, schools, and teachers have approached cautiously. The paper highlights the curriculum's inadequacy in addressing early twenty-first-century political imperatives related to democratic deconsolidation, falling short of Bernsteinian ideals.

Activism as education in and through the youth climate justice movement

AbstractYoung people worldwide are increasingly participating in a global movement for climate justice, yet to date, little research has examined how youth climate justice activists conceive of and experience activism as education. The present study used in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 16 US climate justice activists (aged 15–17) to address the research question: How do youth climate justice activists explain and experience the educative power of their activism? The results of reflective thematic analysis bring to light youths' dual roles as ‘learners of the movement’ and ‘climate justice educators’. As learners, youth described gaining awareness of climate justice directly from the movement, as well as learning a variety of skills (e.g., organising, communication, conflict resolution) through their activist engagement. Simultaneously, youth described their role as educators through a range of activities intended to raise awareness among adult and youth audiences, including educational workshops and trainings, school visits, teach‐ins, curriculum development, talk shows and interviews, creating digital resources, social media outreach and public protest (e.g., strikes, marches and demonstrations). Beyond spreading knowledge of climate in/justice, youth activists were also educators of action and social change processes—noting that learning about governmental institutions and political processes enabled them to exercise their democratic citizenship and equip and embolden other young people to do the same (e.g., via political advocacy trainings). The findings of the present study have implications for creating climate justice curricula that not only attend to the scientific and technological dimensions of the climate crisis, but also enable learners' justice‐driven action and democratic participation.

Collaborative climate labs: A youth-led methodology for co-creating community responses to climate change

This article presents the Collaborative Climate Laboratories (CiCli-Labs), a participatory research methodology that bridges citizenship, science and politics. This methodology is grounded on young people’s knowledge and experience about their communities and seeks to develop a strategy for co-designing climate solutions with local stakeholders. Carried out in schools, the CiCli-Labs engage scientists, activists, business owners, and politicians in discussing climate problems identified by young people. By bringing together different positionalities that emerge from people’s diverse social roles, the CiCli-Labs aim to foster conditions for democratic citizenship and climate justice, embracing the necessarily conflicting yet binding dimensions of politics that can produce transformative and reciprocal learning. Additionally, it responds to the growing demand within educational research for community-based approaches capable of tackling the shortcomings in promoting youth agentic power in participatory designs, often marked by one-off events and youth-washing practices. The CiCli-Labs’ methodology builds on community profiling, through which students identify climate-related issues that work as catalysts for broader dialogues with local actors, challenging traditional adult-centric power dynamics. The methodology evolves through a sequential design based on the adaptation of participatory tools and methods: i) Climate Problem Tree; ii) Climate Social Cartography; iii) Pros-and-Cons Circuit; iv) Solutions Funnel; v) Climate Speed Dating; vi) Hands on Earth and Eyes on Clouds. The methodology was implemented in eight schools in northern Portugal, involving more than 300 students (grades 8 to 12). We discuss the rationale and practicality of the CiCli-Labs while mobilising empirical illustrations of the methodological process and participants’ perceptions about it, thereby contributing to furthering the problematisation of democratic research practices with young people.

Norwegian pre-service teachers’ understanding of reflective rehearsals and democratic citizenship education: opportunities and challenges

AbstractImplementing democratic citizenship across disciplines in education requires careful consideration of how pre-service teachers are prepared to translate this concept into classroom practice. This study investigates Norwegian pre-service teachers’ understanding of reflective rehearsals as a model in teacher education for enhancing awareness of democratic citizenship education. Findings from focus group interviews with 24 participants reveal some opportunities offered by reflective rehearsals as a model for bridging theory and practice in teacher education. Reflective rehearsals are understood as a safe space for making fruitful errors, attempting change and developing professional judgement. Pre-service teachers express an increasing sense of ownership over their formation as becoming teachers. However, certain challenges are also discussed. Firstly, understanding democratic citizenship primarily as individual knowledge is problematic in teacher education, as it may separate pre-service teachers’ knowledge from their experience. Secondly, explicit dialogue concerning the connection between practice and educational purposes is needed. This article argues that reflective rehearsals could become a foundation for exploring the intersection of practice, theory and purpose, if this connection is made explicit and framed critically in teacher education.

Exploring Public Perception of News and Citizenship and Its Relationship with News Use

ABSTRACT This survey study (N = 1065) examines Americans’ perception of news and citizenship and its relationship with consumption of news via diverse media—traditional news media, cable news channels and political satire—that include features of news yet differ from one another in their adherence to journalistic norms, such as fairness, accuracy and objectivity, to varying degrees. Findings suggest that Americans still hold high expectations for news to be fair, accurate and objective and value the role of news in our democracy and democratic citizenship, yet have negative assessments of their performance, such that news media fall short of the democratic ideal. These findings may speak to the declining public trust in media and growing perception of media bias.

POWER OF EDUCATION IN SHAPING DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

Education is a fundamental pillar in the establishment and sustenance of democratic societies. This study explores the intricate relationship between education, democratic citizenship, and good governance. By examining various educational frameworks and their impact on civic engagement, political awareness, and governance quality, the research underscores the transformative power of education in fostering democratic principles. The analysis is grounded in theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence drawn from diverse contexts. It highlights how education promotes critical thinking, informed decision-making, and active participation in democratic processes. Moreover, the study delves into the role of education in cultivating a sense of civic responsibility and ethical governance among citizens. Key findings reveal that comprehensive educational systems that emphasize civic education, human rights, and democratic values significantly contribute to the development of informed and engaged citizens. Such citizens are more likely to demand accountability, transparency, and ethical behavior from their leaders, thereby enhancing governance quality. The study also addresses challenges such as educational inequality and access disparities that hinder the full realization of education’s potential in democratic consolidation. Policy recommendations are offered to strengthen educational strategies that support democratic citizenship and good governance.

Hacia una convivencia democrática: El desafío de repensar ciudadanamente la formación y gestión de dos escuelas chilenas

Purpose. This article analyzes and discusses the scope, in terms of citizenship learning, that stems from the definitions of ‘management’ provided by two public schools in Chile. Method. The research employed a quantitative methodology with a descriptive scope. The sampling was intentional, involving 73 students, 28 teachers, and 6 assistants. Data were collected through a survey and documentary analysis and were analyzed using SPSS software. Results. Schools primarily based their decisions on a bureaucratic and total quality management approach. Meanwhile, they declared a maximalist conception of citizenship education, but its pedagogical implementation was reduced to fragmented actions with limited participation and an emphasis on results. Conclusions. It is proposed to rethink and transform management processes at both micro and macro levels to facilitate the formation and experience of democratic citizenship in schools. Since these processes mutually influence each other, it is recommended to design proposals with the educational community rather than distancing from it.

Latent democratic potential: reflections on contemporary citizenship education in Singapore

AbstractDemocratic citizenship education aims to empower students for active participation in democratic deliberation and meaningful public action. However, defining 'democratic' is complex, and ideals vary. Singapore's education system has faced criticism for perceived shortcomings in preparing students for democratic engagement. Concerns include a lack of understanding of democracy, a tendency to accept hierarchy without critical assessment, and a superficial grasp of citizenship concepts. The social studies curriculum and overall school environment are often seen as limited in fostering democratic involvement. This is attributed in the literature to a lack of explicit commitment to democracy in Singapore's citizenship education. Instead, the system appears to lean towards uncritical adherence to national values and commitment to the nation. This paper challenges the focus on formal citizenship education by exploring the potential for democratic engagement within the broader Singapore curriculum. It argues that implicit democratic values emerge through initiatives like "Thinking School, Learning Nation" and the 21st-century competencies framework, fostering critical thinking, which is crucial for developing democratic dispositions. The analysis of alignment between competencies in Singapore education initiatives and those crucial for contemporary democratic participation offers a nuanced understanding of citizenship education beyond its traditional link to notions of liberal democracy. The paper contributes to debates about democracy's relevance in non-liberal democratic contexts, enriching our understanding of alternative pathways to civic engagement and possible futures for democratic citizenship.

Exploring the Relationship between Informed Understanding of Democracy and Corruption Permissiveness in India: An Explanatory Research

While existing studies have focused on the role of democracy in controlling citizens’ permissiveness toward corruption, they often fail to answer two critical questions: (1) why do democracies with strong institutions and a long history of democratic practices still exhibit high levels of citizen permissiveness toward corruption?; and (2) why is there variability in permissiveness among individuals in democracies with similar democratic commitments, including within the same country? This article addresses these gaps by examining whether citizens’ informed understanding of democracy is significantly correlated with their permissiveness toward corruption in India—a country that experiences the paradox of established democratic institutions alongside high levels of corruption permissiveness. Using ordinal/ordered logistic regression and conducting several robustness checks, the article found a significant negative correlation between informed understanding of democracy and corruption permissiveness among Indian citizens. Based on these findings, it recommends developing and implementing long-term national plans to promote democratic citizenship education through a participant-centric approach.

Diversity and Research in Spanish Universities. Weaknesses, Strengths, and Good Practices for Inclusive Research

Aim. Diversity and inclusion are part of the third mission of higher education institutions. One of the dimensions that must be considered in the process of institutionalising inclusion is research. Inclusive research allows for critical research and reflection on certain fundamental issues on the road to democratic citizenship, making a positive impact on people's lives while contributing to social change and transformation. However, the literature has evidenced barriers in the institutionalisation effort, such as those posed by the market conception. In this context, the study presented here analyses the involvement of higher education research with diversity, as well as its weaknesses and strengths, and finally contributes to the identification of proposals for improvement and good practices for inclusive research. Methods. This work was based on assumptions of the interpretative paradigm, using virtual, one-on-one, semi‐structured interviews with Spanish researchers from different universities –most of them leading national projects on inclusion. Results. The results show that research on diversity is beginning to be incorporated as an essential modality in university agendas. In parallel, it is thought that academic capitalism and competitiveness have pierced conceptions of research quality, and in doing so, diversity and inclusion principles are called into question. Conclusions. Currently, the strengths of inclusion research in higher education are not as robust as the weaknesses. Proposals are made for the improvement of inclusive and democratic research, and four principles are set out to promote the institutionalisation of research on inclusion in universities.

Teaching civics for sustainability in post-authoritarian order: The challenges of developing progressive citizenship in new democracies – Lessons from Poland

Civics courses have a great significance – they are supposed to train new cohorts of citizens to engage in multiple public roles in (democratic) society. How it is done depends on a multitude of factors, and teachers’ performance and program contents are among the most important. In post-authoritarian order like Poland, civic contents of educational curricula acquire particular significance: they must lay foundation for new forms of citizenship necessary for the consolidation of democracy. In new democracies, defining development is a lot more than talking about economic or political formulas. Ideas of sustainable development belong in a package of ideas which may anchor people in progressive world order, yet they meet resistance from the traditions and mindsets inherited from the previous system (homo sovieticus). SDG Civics, that is, that part of the catalogue of Sustainable Development Goals which directly refers to political agency, becomes a set of patchwork ideas incorporated into democratic citizenship. Through the study of academic curricula, textbooks, and government policies, this paper addresses the complexity of the problem of civics education in new democracies. It sees sustainable development as a concept wrestling with pressures coming from different ideologies, institutions, actors, and visions of the future. This article should be seen as a contribution to the discussions about the political nature of sustainability.

The Autocracy Bias: Evaluating Democratic Citizens’ Perception of Human Rights Violations in Policy Proposals Abroad

Abstract Do citizens in democracies view foreign policies as more violative of human rights based on the governing regime’s type? We hypothesize that in democratic societies, there is an inherent association of autocracy with human rights violations, leading citizens to believe that policies from authoritarian governments infringe upon human rights more than those from democracies, even when the policies are seemingly identical. We evaluate this autocracy bias by gathering evidence from nine survey experiments across seven democracies. Consistently, we find that citizens of democratic countries are more likely to consider a policy to be a violation of human rights if China adopts it, compared to when a seemingly identical policy is adopted by Spain or Italy. We find that this perception extends to eleven other authoritarian regimes, and a mechanism experiment reveals that regime type is the driving force behind this differential evaluation. This study contributes to the understanding of how citizens in democratic societies perceive respect for human rights in foreign countries.

Breathing democratic air: North Korean refugees’ journey to sociocultural learning about democracy

This study investigates the acquisition of normative knowledge and values about democracy by North Korean refugees in the United States through everyday experiences and academic concepts. Drawing on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which posits that knowledge is socially constructed and forms the basis of a society’s culture, an analysis is conducted on the sociocultural learning experiences of democracy among North Korean refugees. Utilizing Clarke’s situational analysis of interview transcripts, various scenes of sociocultural learning about democracy and the interpretation of these experiences by North Korean refugees compared to their past in North Korea are uncovered. A common space (e.g. ESL courses) for teaching refugees about democracy can serve as a valuable platform for non-traditional, adult refugee learners, regardless of their educational background, affordability or status. The study’s findings underscore the significance of providing refugees with opportunities for democratic education in a new cultural context, with potential implications for democratic citizenship education.

Teaching as a dance with and towards dignity: Recognizing dignity in educational relationships

In educational research there is a plethora of propositions on different ways to address the problem of too narrow and merely/mainly extrinsic and future-oriented aims of education such as the one of producing citizens who can contribute to national competitiveness in a global capitalist market system. Several approaches counterbalance such narrow aims by offering more holistic aims such as cosmopolitan, democratic citizenship, flourishing and liberation. However, in addition to broadening the range of possible aims of education, there is also a need to address the underlying ethical and relational problem of how aims in themselves, even though holistic, still always run the risk of becoming stagnant and reified. In this paper, I argue together with Gert Biesta and Sharon Todd that the unavoidable fact of educational aims involving the risk of becoming stagnant can have detrimental effects on relationships in classrooms. However, I re-frame the problem from an ethical viewpoint. I propose dignity-awareness as a practice of ethical relational attunement to educational aims where these are left open for renewal and dynamic co-existence, not merely through a process of strenuous self-reflection and pedagogic dialogue, but through artfulness and playfulness. I suggest dance as a metaphor for an ethical awareness/interaction in which the relative importance of educational aims is acknowledged and appreciated.

The Politics of Indigenous Exclusion in Australia and New Zealand

In both Australia and New Zealand, Indigenous peoples have called for alternative non-colonial political arrangements. In October 2023, Australians voted in a referendum against distinctive Indigenous participation in public policymaking, which had been proposed as a step toward a more inclusive political system. On the same day, New Zealand elected a new Parliament, leading to the formation of a government comprising three parties that had campaigned against what they saw as excessive Māori political influence. Comparing these developments and the histories of the two countries raises questions about liberal equality, democratic citizenship, and whether all or just some citizens should own the liberal democratic state.

Civic Education for Civic Leadership

Civic education and civic leadership are at the forefront of renewing faith in democracy on our campuses and communities. There is an urgent need for higher education to return to its historical foundation to fulfill the mission of democracy by educating students for democratic citizenship (Harkavy, 2006). Effectively integrating curricular and co-curricular civic engagement involves a balanced approach that is “both political and non-political” (Ehrlich, 2000, p. vi) to guide students to identify core values, develop civic knowledge, and build civic leadership skills (Finley, 2011; Hurtado, 2019). Civic leadership is an integral student learning outcome embedded within civic engagement praxis, but few frameworks have been developed to integrate leadership growth into their programming and curricula (Kniffin & Sapra, 2021). To renew faith in democracy, a reorientation to engagement with the local community through civic leadership is the pathway to achieve measurable impact by guiding students from the classroom into the community. If higher education is to fulfill the mission of democracy, educators and campus leaders must become the guides who invite students into a story bigger than themselves. Building on King’s (1963) civic legacy and Musil’s (2009) Civic Learning Spiral, the author outlines a Strategic Leadership Impact Model that has resulted in student-led civic engagement capstone projects, community-based research, and sustainable civic partnerships. Whether in the classroom or in the community, undergraduate students must be equipped through civic curriculum, co-curriculum, and service-learning programming to engage diverse perspectives and political viewpoints with civic curiosity to become effective civic leaders.

The Influence of High School Students' School Mood on Democratic Citizenship: focused on the mediating Social Competence

The Influence of High School Students' School Mood on Democratic Citizenship: focused on the mediating Social Competence