Civic Education for Democracy: An Indicator for Civic Skills Teaching and Democracy vs. Authoritarianism

Surprisingly absent today in the arsenal of democracy and legal development interventions globally, and of little interest in the ‘Western democracies’, is civic education in public schools. Preparing citizens with the wide range of skills for equal participation and impact in the full spectrum of public decision-making in all institutions that have political influence — regardless of citizens’ individual positions, families, access, wealth or other differential ability to exert power — is largely ignored. This article begins with the theory of civics education for democracy and examines the approaches that currently exist domestically in the U.S. and globally, including in international development (governance and ‘democracy building’) programs, for defining the essential skills for civic education for social contract democracy and preparing citizens for full and equal exercise of public responsibilities to assure the overall protection of group and individual rights and for meeting specific needs. Based on this theory, the article generates a list of key civic skill categories and skills for social contract democracy in complex societies. It then uses this list to create an indicator for measuring the actual commitment of countries and the ability of specific curricula to prepare citizens fully and equally and effectively for social contract democracy and for guiding efforts to improve civic education. Global application of this indicator reveals little real difference today in the preparation of citizens in ‘Western democracies’ and in one-Party or (generally recognised) authoritarian states, with regard civic responsibilities.