How Can Civic and Political Education Improve Democratic Governance at Scale?

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Abstract

Despite a century of political science, 35 years of Campus Compact and countless initiatives in civic education and engagement, democratic values and trust in politics are under threat. Civil society is vibrant - as it was in Weimar Germany in 1933 before an authoritarian, nationalist government was elected to power with widespread popular and academic support. The world today is very different from 1933, but more complex, divided and unequal, with four times the population and nuclear weapons. Liberal democracies face internal threats as well as intense competition from authoritarian models of government such as China.
This paper describes over 25 existing models of support for civic education and engagement from across the world to propose a framework for a largescale collaborative programme of civic education, research and development to ensure the resilience of pluralistic democracy as an effective alternative to authoritarian rule, as a social science equivalent to the space programme or Covid19 vaccine development.
This is based on a theoretical and methodological argument that every state can be seen as an experiment in political science and working model or hypothesis of how to govern, developed over centuries through trial and error. All institutions are social experiments, embodying collective knowledge of how to deal with an aspect of society. By treating institutions as Social Models, equivalent to hypothesis and theories in the natural sciences, social research can enable people to unlock social power to solve problems better.
Drawing on theories of reflexivity, this insight provides a theoretical basis for scholars to work with citizens to address democratic deficits and improve pluralistic politics as a method for solving problems in society. Treating institutions as experiments and Social Models gives scholars powerful new ways to increase effectiveness and impact of research.
All governments are working hypotheses. In open, democratic societies they are subject to scrutiny by citizens, political parties, elected assemblies, mass media, official procedures, regulators, law courts, professional associations and many other mechanisms. In this light, democratic processes can be seen as a rudimentary method of social science, through which citizens peer review their governments and other institutions. The critical role of citizens in creating, developing and scrutinizing institutions makes democratic societies more innovative, diverse and dynamic, but also more complex and difficult to govern than authoritarian societies. Open conflicts of interest and ideas in democratic societies can make authoritarian models more attractive to people in times of stress. Education and support for citizens’ engagement in democratic governance is therefore essential for the “democratic method” to work well.
The paper draws on four decades of experience in civic education, engagement and advocacy at a local, national and international level, as well as research into the impact of social science and evaluation of education. The author is a regular contributor to the World Forum for Democracy, hosted by the Council of Europe, and has published widely on deepening democracy, including ‘Practical Politics: Lessons in Power and Democracy’ (2016, UCL IoE/Trentham) on teaching democratic politics in civil society, schools and university.

Author

• Titus Alexander, Democracy Matters