From the local to the supranational: curriculum reform and the production of the ideal citizen in two federal systems, Germany and Spain

This paper examines the Europeanization of citizenship education policy through a comparative analysis of two European states, Germany and Spain, with strong traditions of regional control of education policy. While previous studies have tended to focus on national responses to and implementation of EU initiatives, they often disregarded the complex relationship regional actors have with national state and supranational actors. Using evidence from interviews and a detailed framing analysis of citizenship education curricula, textbooks, and policy documents, this paper looks specifically at Catalonia and Bavaria to explore the conception of the 'ideal citizen' within and across local education practice(s), regional policy imperatives, central state‐level citizenship education policy, German and Spanish federal policy related to citizenship and immigration, and EU educational initiatives. Keywords: BavariaCataloniacitizenship educationeducation policyEuropean citizenshipGermanySpain Notes 1. Consistent with EU Studies literature and EU terminology, 'region' is used to signify national regional communities or region‐states within and across nation‐state territorial and political boundaries (cf. Anderson Citation2001). In this paper, we use region rather than sub‐nation, sub‐state, or 'nations without states' (Guibernau Citation1999) for consistency and clarity, although it is important to note the wide range of uses of these terms across different bodies of literature. 2. Terms, such as nation, state, nation‐state, and national state, are used in numerous and often ambiguous ways to denote territory or land, institutions, and government (with particular administrative and legislative responsibilities) and individual, group, and community belonging (cf. Anderson Citation1983). These vary in the literature and between countries. For the purposes of this paper, we use the term 'state' to refer to central and regional government's administrative and legislative powers over education policy. We deploy the term 'nation' to refer to a group or community with shared cultural, linguistic, historical, and ethnic identity as an 'imagined community' (Anderson Citation1983). There must be caution in the use of nation‐state in cases of both Spain and Germany because it carries assumptions about a defined and demarcated territory, which contains a singular people united by a common language, religion, and culture (cf. Engel Citation2007b). 3. The authors are fluent in the languages of the region (German, Catalan, and Castilian) and spent extended time in the field over a 2‐year time period broadly investigating educational reform and citizenship education policy. All translations herein are our own. 4. This representation, which dates back to the early 1980s, has become higher profile in recent years. In 2006 the representation moved into a former villa in the heart of the EU area in Brussels. This physical presence, which is larger than many EU member states' residences in Brussels, leaves little doubt about Bavaria's intentions vis‐à‐vis the EU. 5. Although enshrined in the 1949 Constitution, in part because of the Allies' belief that individual state control over education would serve as a preventative measure against resurgence of nationalism (Erk Citation2003), decentralization of education mirrors the development of Germany as a collection of tribes and, later, lands, as opposed to a unified national state. 6. There are 16 Länder making up the Federal Republic of Germany.