Democracy is a process, one that needs to be continually renewed to fit new experiences and new circumstances; in other words, it's a process of education. The enrichment of experience through education is a task that must be carried on every day, in both formal and informal settings.

In 1947, the Truman Commission recommended that American colleges and universities recommit themselves to civic education. Community colleges accepted this responsibility and today they offer a wide range of programs and activities designed to educate students and prepare them for the life of an engaged citizen. Still, overall, the data show that…

A survey of the nation's civic health reveals troubling trends, with historic lows in trust among individuals and key institutions such as government, media, and the courts. Political polarization has significantly increased among Americans in the last 40 years, surpassing eight other democratic nations and challenging the idea that it is merely a…

How can we imagine the ideal of "civic friendship" in the current contentious atmosphere? This article recasts the original concept of civic friendship through a tangle construct known as "weak ties." It introduces the initial interactions between Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Jane Addams as a useful model for forging weak ties…

The liberal arts tradition is under attack in the United States, even as it is spreading around the globe. That tradition was formalized in Latin Antiquity, but the essential questions and rational methodology that underpin it date to Ancient Greek philosophy. At the core of the tradition is the range of modalities of rational thinking, the main…

Education-related responses to our current democratic crisis have largely been focused on schooling children and youth. This narrow focus has foreclosed or diverted our attention from other possibilities for democratic education, especially as it relates to adult citizens and the ways in which such education can -- and must -- extend beyond…

In this paper, my aim is to reintroduce and reclaim the concept of civility for the ongoing debates on democratic education within the Arendt-inspired philosophy of education. I juxtapose a prominent interpretation related to theories of radical democracy and radical democratic education, referring to Gert Biesta's work, which amends Arendt's…

This essay by René Arcilla examines Jean-Luc Nancy's understanding of the "spirit of 1968." It argues that Nancy's concept can guide a humanist approach to educating citizens for participation in democratic self-government, one that responds to the political challenges facing us today. In particular, it develops a critique of…

In this article, the central question is how the relationship between democracy and education can be understood in terms of civic literacy. By taking as a point of departure John Dewey's basic understanding of democracy in terms of communication and experience, which also forms the basis for the pragmatist knowledge concept of "transactional…

Contemporary literature reveals that many educators, especially those in elementary schools and in conflict-effected societies, are reluctant to engage in the teaching of current public issues, even more so social controversies. However, this qualitative study examined the successful experience and the perspectives of educators from two elementary…

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…

This book turns to political theory as a framework for understanding the rise of political and religious extremism, and in particular the Christian Nationalist position, identifying solutions to civic challenges, and arguing for the vital role that public schools play in providing the civic education that prepares young people for participation in…

Political polarization is often argued to be a major threat to democracy. This article examines whether the two different forms of polarization, ideological and affective, may risk some of the core assumptions of democratic legitimacy. The paper argues that ideological polarization is linked with increasingly radical ideological positions being…

According to Douglas Challenger, American democracy just survived a near-death experience during the slow-motion coup that was the four years of Donald Trump's presidency. It culminated in his rejecting his electoral loss and pressuring officials and political allies to back his claims that the election was fraudulent and, at the end, inciting his…

In bringing together the literature on post-democracy and theoretical work on the politics of affective societies, this article explores how democratic education might benefit from a sustained examination of negative emotions and affects associated with democratic disenchantment. In particular, the analysis highlights what is gained by introducing…