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Civic education fosters societal stabilization and democratic resilience by equipping individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for active citizenship. This comprehensive review examines the impact of civic education on societal stabilization, synthesizing empirical evidence from diverse disciplinary perspectives. The results show a positive association between civic education interventions and various indicators of civic knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Specifically, comprehensive civic education curricula enhance political knowledge, cultivate positive civic attitudes, and promote democratic participation. Challenges such as the marginalization of civic education within educational systems and the politicization of curricula pose significant obstacles. Recommendations for enhancing civic education include integrating comprehensive curricula, professional development for educators, promoting experiential learning, fostering partnerships, and promoting inclusivity and diversity. Addressing these challenges and implementing evidence-based practices can maximize the impact of civic education on society, contributing to social cohesion, democratic governance, and protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), the central figure in the history of church and theology in the 19th century, can be seen as a pioneer of democratic structures in state and church. During the period of the Prussian Reforms he had occasion to realize his theological ideas. In his sermons he appealed to Christians to actively participate in shaping the state. He drafted a constitution for the Protestant church in Prussia, in which leading offices were to be filled by elections. In his academic lectures he made clear that he wanted the political influence of the monarch to be severely limited in favour of democratic participation of citizens in legislation and administration. In his political sermons of those years he did not spare criticism of the king's political decisions. The measure of this criticism was the will of the nation which the monarch has to represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights – Research discusses how civic education may alleviate social inequality in political efficacy. – Openness towards and awareness of controversial issues may play an important role. – Teachers show significant differences when interpreting what makes an issue controversial. – The political and epistemic interpretation seems more influential than the emotional criteria. Purpose: The aim of the article is to contribute to an overall discussion of how civic education may influence the political efficacy of adolescents, with specific emphasis on social equalisation. We analyse how the inclusion of controversial issues in civic education may contribute towards increased social equalisation in political efficacy. Design/methodology/approach: Our study follows a qualitative research design and is based on semi-structured interviews with social science teachers in Norwegian lower-secondary schools. Our contribution is influenced by extensive quantitative research, on which we seek to expand through qualitative exploration. Findings: Our main finding is that the inclusion of controversial issues in civic education does not in itself contribute towards social equalisation in political efficacy, but that more openness towards and different understandings of controversial issues that are included may potentially do so. Research limitations/implications: The scope of our study is limited by its size, but it should give some direction for further research. Practical implications: We suggest that teachers may benefit from approaching controversial issues in a less personal way, favouring epistemic and political criteria rather than emotional ones.

Copyright of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies is the property of Journal of Academic Social Science Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study analyses how “active democratic participation” is conceptualised by sixteen teacher educators from eight institutions of higher education across four Nordic countries and how these conceptualisations are translated into their own teaching. Teacher educators’ strong adherence to a liberal discourse on democratic education may convey the impression that democratic participation is individual and optional and that forming opinions and voting are sufficient measures to uphold the democratic structures of society. This limits active democratic participation to the private sphere – as opposed to collective, manifest political participation – and may shape how student teachers present active democratic education in primary and secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens United has stimulated a cottage industry of legal scholarship on corruption. A prominent stream of this literature is self-consciously atheoretical and suggests that the current state of corruption jurisprudence suffers from a misconceived reliance on liberal political theories and a rejection of the public good. We argue that it is impossible to understand specific acts of corruption without a political theory explaining why such actions are wrong. We show that the current jurisprudence relies on a mistaken intellectual history of the public good and a political theory of American constitutionalism that commodifies citizenship and treats political participation as a market good. Pace Teachout, we cannot draw the bright lines many legal scholars desire without a better political theory of the primary goods we want to protect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should property owners have a unique right to express their opinion just because they own property? While current law recognizes owners' rights to express their voices in certain instances, it does not provide comprehensive and coherent answers to this question. This article provides an analytical framework for recognizing the owners' right to voice as an independent property entitlement within the owners' property bundle of rights and delineates its boundaries. Yet even when the owners' voice is property-dependent, there is a difference between voice that facilitates the realization of another property entitlement (such as the right to exclude, use, or trade) and voice that is constitutive to ownership in and of itself. Only the latter instances justify recognition of the owners' right to a voice as an independent property entitlement. By examining different branches of both tangible and intellectual property law, such as inheritance law, eminent domain, homeowners' association law, zoning law, and copyright law, this article demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed analytical framework in explaining certain parts of the current law and suggests modifications of other parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to present aspects of the historical, social, and educational experience of the city of Bologna, in the Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy. From the recovery of its history and its organization, mainly after the Second World War, which favored democratic participation and decentralized management, the proposal of Educating City is presented. This is a qualitative study with document analysis and theoretical review. The conclusion is that the city's social context is propitious to democratic discussion and influences discussions about its definition as an Educating City, with projects and events in educational, cultural, and social training networks. By recognizing itself as an Educating City, it reaffirms its tradition as a place of social participation, important for thinking about the urban space for children and possibilities for effective participation in discussions of themes that affect them in their daily lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dallas Smythe's concept of "cultural screening" is often overlooked, despite its crucial importance for the politics of technology. Smythe posited that developing socialist countries should scrutinize technology imported from capitalist countries due to its potentially adverse ideological impacts. In this paper, I examine and develop this concept by analyzing the intricate dynamics of class politics characterizing socialist China's technological development. This paper also contributes to Chinese science and technology studies (STS) by providing new insights and perspectives. Unlike Smythe, who did not explicitly focus on class, Maoism emphasizes the role of class politics in shaping technological development. According to Mao, the participation of the masses in technological development is a key manifestation of socialism, whereas technocratic and intellectual approaches reflect capitalism. Therefore, he understood the development of technology as a "line struggle" between socialist and capitalist roads and prompted the mass mobilization of workers to study Maoist philosophy to ensure the implementation of "proletarian politics in command." The philosophy study movement aimed to reshape epistemological relationships between knowledge and practice, workers and technocrats, and labor and technology/machinery to mediate class politics in technological development in socialist China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This policy-oriented article explores the sustainability dimension of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI). While AI can contribute to halting climate change via targeted applications in specific domains, AI technology in general could also have detrimental effects for climate policy goals. Moreover, digitalisation and AI can have an indirect effect on climate policy via their impact on political processes. It will be argued that, if certain conditions are fulfilled, AI-facilitated digital tools could help with setting up frameworks for bottom-up citizen participation that could generate the legitimacy and popular buy-in required for speedy transformations needed to reach net zero such as radically revamping the energy infrastructure among other crucial elements of the green transition. This could help with ameliorating a potential dilemma of voice versus speed regarding the green transition. The article will further address the nexus between digital applications such as AI and climate justice. Finally, the article will consider whether innovative governance methods could instil new dynamism into the multi-level global climate regime, such as by facilitating interlinkages and integration between different levels. Before implementing innovative governance arrangements, it is crucial to assess whether they do not exacerbate old or even generate new inequalities of access and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many key concerns require engagement with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge. Consider the complexity and nuance of climate change, energy policy, health and medicine, and data security. Informed voting or decision-making on such issues is no easy task; effective participation in our society requires considerable STEM capabilities. Education of all age groups is essential for a scientifically knowledgeable population involved in making democratic decisions about the future. Lindeman argued for adult education learning processes hand-in-hand with democratic processes, yet, once adults leave formal education, there are woefully few opportunities for the general public to learn or engage with STEM content. Adult education as a field has an important obligation to continue to support adults' STEM learning. This obligation includes helping scientists and STEM educators better connect to adult learners in informal and nonformal settings. This paper explores adult STEM education for democratic participation. We begin with an overview of adult STEM education, followed by STEM knowledge and skills, with a focus on the utility and value of scientific processes and ways of thinking. We then continue with the function of STEM learning in democratic processes followed by frameworks of adult STEM, specifically scientific literacy and place-based education, and conclude with implications and recommendations for adult education practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between democratic participation and the well-being of the people – a fundamental aim of Confucian government. It argues that although the value of democratic participation for people's moral cultivation may be dubious (as suggested recently by Sungmoon Kim), democratic participation is key to meeting other salient aspects of people's well-being. Drawing on developments in Western epistemic analyses of democracy, this paper shows that the complexity of political issues in developed countries makes democracy an important decision-making process to enhance the well-being of most of the members of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature in democratic innovations highlights format or process-centred strategies to classify democratic innovations. However, both format and process-centred classification strategies suffer from conceptual stretching, leading to cases' omissions or overlapping typologies. This research proposes a new analytical approach to classifying democratic innovation based on prototypical radial categorization. Prototypical radial categorization classifies objects considering their similarity to a central category and empirically establishes how observations are related to normative accounts of democratic innovations. The proposed categorization strategy is empirically evaluated on real-world democratic innovations drawn from Participedia, the largest crowd sourcing platform in democratic innovation. Participedia database is analyzed through multiple factor analysis (MFA) and hierarchical clustering on principal components (HCPC). The analysis highlights four clusters that are a subset of two main groups that coincide with the normative categorization of participatory and deliberative democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democracy as a system of government has no flesh, capacity or definitions without citizens' active participation or input because the institution of the people supersedes every other institution of government since the core of democracy begins and ends with the people from time to time irrespective of the regime or circle of government officials in power anywhere in the world. Nigeria as a state is regarded as a giant of Africa due to several positive attributes that ranges from large land mass, population, military and economy which placed her at the top most position in Africa democracy and participation but her failure to lead by example as far as democracy is concern has also led to the collapse of this system of government in the continent. Therefore, this paper significantly sifted issues in Africa democracy as it affect the level of participation using Nigeria as the guinea pig since she is a significant voice in the continent. Discovering shows that democratic participation in Africa is all time low due to several issues amongst which are: crisis of governance, state and management of security, failure of democracy amongst others. The paper therefore, recommended that African citizens should not be idle or indifference to change, instead let the fight to change the status quo be eternal no matter how difficult it is because struggle have always and will continue to be medium of change. Power belongs to the masses in a democratic setting. The liberation of the Africa mind should be the ultimate goal. Good governance, political freedom, equity and better welfare are in the mind and therefore, Africa leaders should change their culture or approach to governance. For the case of Nigeria and most African countries, it is better to mentioned that anyone who has ever tasted power before at any level should not be given another access. There seems to be no advantage of experience or residual skills acquired before. New hands should be allowed to handle the steering to lift the nations from their rumb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The democratic principle of political co-determination requires, for its realization, workplace processes that are often left out of political discussions. The supposition that workplace dynamics are separate from the political realm of democratic governance has led to blind spots regarding the close relation between the two, and how the former deeply shapes the latter. Workplace dignity and co-determination provide the psychological and social foundations for an active citizenry, and workplaces can act as a microcosm for broader democratic process. The current essay describes the social philosophies linking work to democracy and explains how this crucial link to democratic theorizing was subsequently lost. Describing five ways in which workplaces can, in principle, undermine chances for democratic co-determination, the essay then examines the normative conditions for work that would be needed to regenerate the basis for democratic participation. A business ethics that claims to support democracy must therefore seriously consider the nature of workplace injustices, not only as personal injury, but also as affronts to social and political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Derecho del Estado is the property of Universidad Externado de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Democratic theory tends to proceed on the assumption that law requires democratic legitimation because it is coercive. However, the claim that law requires democratic legitimation is distinct from claims about the nature of law. This paper takes issue with the notion that law is coercive by an exploration of three distinct understandings of the nature of law: the state-based conception of law, law as the rules of institutionalized normative systems, and law as social norms. Drawing on insights from legal and democratic theory, the paper defends the view that the 'law' to which democratic claims apply are the rules of conduct of institutionalized normative systems. Since rules that belong to such systems are found in associations beyond or below the level of the state, the scope of democratic participation is significantly wider than is usually recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current global crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, waterway pollution, and land-system change need far-reaching collective action, with major implications for future human-landscape relations. However, whereas there has been a radical acceleration in green solutions brought forward within science and technology, less attention has been paid to their social integration and long-term sustainability. Based on experiences with a large-scale Danish agri-food transition expert scenario exercise, this commentary scopes ideas for further research on how to accelerate a socially sensitive agri-food transition with clear visionary goals for radically new and sustainable human-landscape relations and forms of governance. We argue that this should be a process of making liveable landscapes, countryside spaces and cities, and one that 1) builds on trust, public embedment, and co-creation; 2) regards humans as part of nature; and 3) is inclusive and fair—locally and globally.

Schools have traditionally taken a "just-the-facts-ma'am" approach to civic education, focusing on governmental structures and political systems. We argue that preparing young people to engage with democracy requires far more than rote memorization of facts and figures. Schools should be laboratories of democracy, where young people's civic intentions are converted into civic behaviors. We argue that to realize that transformation, educators must impart real-world knowledge, practical skills, and nurturing abilities that are not captured by standardized tests of academic achievement: namely, the inter personal and intra personal abilities conducive to civic mindedness. We discuss what these oft-labeled "noncognitive" skills are and how they are measured, review the evidence that shows how they foster democratic participation, articulate a vision for how civics can help develop students' noncognitive skills, and lay out a research agenda for scholars seeking to teach young people the skills requisite to actively participate in democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformations taking place at global and local level widely affect people’s lives and accelerate the urgency to rethink in an organic way the practices and contexts for lifelong learning as a key to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015), through programmes that foster learning in schools, families, and communities. The contribution proposes a reflection on the urgency of rethinking public space as a place of relations and democratic participation, and therefore as a context of continuous quality learning in the perspective of overcoming inequalities in favour of the social and civic redefinition of children and young people as autonomous, empowered and socially active subjects, with important implications in educational practice linked to the territory and local communities. It is considered the Global Network of Learning Cities (UNESCO, 2017) to promote social inclusion, economic growth, public safety, and environmental protection.

There are numerous studies (Norris, 2001; Muñiz, 2015; Díaz and Góngora, 2019) that have declared the importance of the use of social networks and the education of citizens as essential areas to understand civic and democratic participation in issues of sociopolitical interest. . The present work is carried out with the objective of analyzing the association between the variables schooling and use of social networks (YouTube, Facebook and Twitter) to be informed of matters of national interest. For which, a subsample of 20,323 subjects selected from the National Survey of Civic Culture of the year 2020 was used. The selection criterion was to be 18 years old and over. The research hypothesis was that schooling and the use of social networks (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) are associated in promoting citizen participation in issues of national interest and issues of democratic life. The results showed that, in effect, as the specialized literature points out, there is an association relationship between the variables of interest and citizen participation in issues of sociopolitical interest. To carry out the statistical analysis, the chi2 test was used to determine the association between the study variables, finding a value = 2050.1, with a significance p = 0.05. Therefore, the research hypothesis is verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the 'Fridays for Future' movement as its starting point, this article conceptualizes and defends youth disobedience, understood as principled disobedience by legal minors. The article first argues that the school strike for climate can be viewed as civil disobedience. Then, the article distinguishes between various forms of youth disobedience (according to whether they involve child-specific issues or actions). Building on the democratic rationale for civil disobedience, the remainder of the article argues that there is a special justification for youth disobedience. To show this, it argues that children are wrongfully excluded from political participation and that principled law-breaking can be an important remedy to this exclusion. The upshot is that adults should engage seriously and leniently with youth disobedience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a reflection on the teaching of public theology in two very different contexts: in a Protestant seminary in the US (1985–2019) and an underground seminary in Nazi Germany (1935–1937). The author analyzes her teaching career over years of change, both institutional and social, that challenged pedagogical methods to remain relevant and effective. Yet informing and shaping her pedagogy were five values that remained constant throughout: contextuality, democratic participation, collegiality, dialogue, and inclusion of diverse voices. These values resonated with another theological school in another time and place—the underground seminary at Finkenwalde in Germany, created by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1935. It trained students for the Confessing Church until it was shut down by the Gestapo in 1937. Moving into a future in which pedagogical methods are changing and instructors are retooling to learn new technologies and teaching skills, these core values remain as touchstones in shaping curriculum and the educational experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Complexity" is ubiquitous in contemporary political commentary, where it is invoked to justify innovative governance programs. However, the term lacks analytic clarity. One way to make sense of it is to construct a genealogy of the notion of "wicked problems," a concept that highlights the intractability of complex problems and problematizes the technocratic management of complexity. The term wicked problems originated in science planning in postwar Germany and urban planning in the United States. In both cases, planners rejected a naïve optimism about the potential of technical expertise in favor of recognizing that many problems transcend the knowledge possessed by experts. This appreciation of complexity led to attempts, still ongoing, to accommodate both participatory and expert-based decision making in the face of wicked problems, producing a form of technical democracy in which problem solving requires the orchestration of conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Derecho Politico is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper argues that sustainable Smart Cities cannot be delivered by profit-driven visions, but through a process that integrates the diverse aptitudes and needs of the city stakeholders. The study uses mixed methods to examine democratic participation in governance and the emerging notion of Smart City Citizenship in the context of India. Benchmarking and assessment of 21 smart cities reveals the existing participatory processes being "tokenistic" and a substantial deficit in democratic stakeholder participation mechanisms. A deeper assessment in Kochi and Nagpur exposes the existing barriers to citizen participation and reveals that the capacities of capable stakeholders and citizen groups can be channelised more effectively. This study promotes advancing the notion of 'citizenship' beyond the market to the commons. It suggests transforming urban governance into a more accountable and collaborative governance model with a stronger role and power to local government, residents, and democratic stakeholders. • Benchmarking and assessment of 21 smart cities and case studies of Kochi and Nagpur reveal that the existing participatory processes being "tokenistic" and a substantial deficit in democratic stakeholder participation mechanisms • The cities need to break the barriers of bureaucracy, corruption, marketisation, and capacity limitations. • This study promotes advancing the notion of 'citizenship' beyond the market to the commons. • The study suggests transforming urban governance into a more accountable and collaborative governance model with a stronger role and power to local government, residents, and democratic stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long been interested in the relationship between civil society and democracy. Today, international donors promote civil society in developing countries, and they explicitly define civil society to include nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It remains an open question, however, whether service provision NGOs in developing countries fulfill this civil society function. Some prominent scholarship argues that only NGOs that explicitly pursue advocacy perform civil society roles; service provision NGOs do not. I address this question, testing the relationship between individuals' experience with, and perceptions of, NGOs and their political participation in voting, protests, and raising issues with public officials. Using data from Kenya, I find that individuals who report contact with, or positive views of, NGOs are more likely to engage in certain political activities, providing some evidence for the inclusion of NGOs in the concept of civil society. I theorize mechanisms by which service provision NGOs may affect various forms of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to analytically review the concepts of social policy and the welfare state from their historical transitions, showing the emergence of new discursive frameworks in the design of public policies, in their construction, that allow deepening municipal democracy. The conceptual displacements of these categories are manifested from different approaches of the social sciences, since the terms policy and social lend themselves to different interpretations. Social policy has been approached not only as a mechanism for social reproduction or social transformation, but also as an object of study and research. Methodology: the approach is theoretical and the argumentative method as a practical reason and inductive logic is used to delve into the theoretical categories enunciated and to demonstrate the central role of ideas in the formulation and implementation of public policies. Conclusion: The need to redefine the concept of social policy analysis is evident under the new paradigms that invoke citizen participation, deliberative democracy and discursive analysis to know the opinion of the actors with an open and participatory sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and rapid but short-lived presence of Students for Freedom and Equality (SFE; in Persian: Daneshjuyan-e Azadikhah va Barabaritalab or DAB) across major Iranian campuses and their fateful 4 December 2007 protest rally on the campus of the University of Tehran speaks of the return of leftist student activism to Iranian campuses after almost two decades of absence or invisibility within the context of post-revolutionary Iran. SFE was an umbrella democratic organization: its activists came from a plurality of social and political backgrounds and adhered to diverse leftist ideas. But in the context of pro-Reform Movement student activism in Iranian post-secondary institutions in the late 1990s and in 2000s, for a short time the SFE tried to hegemonize student activism and challenge the various pro-government tendencies in university campuses. Before state repression forced the SFE out of operation in 2007, Students for Freedom and Equality brought to campuses candid discussions of social justice issues, critique of Iran's neoliberal economic policies, and challenges to censorship and lack of freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study seeks to identify what variables influence civic identity and sense of belonging in Afrodescendant communities from the city of Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). The Afro-descendant community is a segment of a population minority that has suffered historical abandonment by the state. The population examined consists of Afro-community leaders representing their ancestral diversity. The methodology is mixed, qualitative and quantitative, and the logarithmic binary regression model is applied. The results show that the variables that best explain the model are participation through being a community council member, community leader's management, and cultural valuation. It is concluded that, even in abandonment, Afro-descendants feel they are citizens when they value their culture and their spaces for participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]