European citizenship and democracy- political socialization in education ( Session 1)

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1 Subnetwork G Day 3 Sunday 30 May Parallel Session 3.2: Room 5 Session G1: Inclusive, intercutural education and cooperative learning Poul Hjort Madsen, Haderslev Statsseminarium Denmark (State Institute of Teacher Education and Educator Training) European citizenship and democracy- political socialization in education ( Session 1) The identity as a Danish or a European Citizen is to my opinion one of the most important aspects of identity. But not all Danes or Europeans have the same opinion on what citizenship means.at least you can identify three main traditions in the theory of democracy and citizenship: The liberal tradition: (Rawls, Nozick, Popper etc.): According to liberalist the individual is rational. The individual is only able to maximize his happiness if he is sufficiently free. The individual will not use his freedom to limit the freedom of others, as he would then have to accept similar limitations of his own freedom. Liberalism is therefore an ideology of rigths which emphasizes the possibilities of individual development and liberalists evaluate society (the political system or the state) from this fundamental point of view. To liberalists the individual is the main thing and the community is in principle nothing but a sum of independent individual persons. This means, that the political system, whether it is the national state or the European Union, primarily must be evaluated by to what extent it is able to protect the individual s rights and possibilities of free development. The consequences for political socialization in school will therefore be that the pupils must have the possibility of developing their own skills and interests and it will especially be the development of citizen- skills, that will the main focus of liberalists. Especially knowledge of the rules of the political system is important, ie the formal rules which at national level is described in the constitution and in the electoral law and at the European level in the EU treaties. The possibilities of the open European market to increase the welfare of the citizens will also be important in this connection.the regulations at national and European level must be as few as possible. In liberalism there is no contradiction between a national and a European citizenship as long as the political systems make it possibile to the individual to realize his wishes and needs. The national state and The European union have no intrinsic value - the systems are evaluated by their utility value and as a result of this you must start with this in the education. Within the liberal tradition a citizen is therefore the European Citizen, who knows the ground rules of the national and the European democracy, but who is also able to critically evaluate if the

2 national and European system function sufficiently efficient in order to ensure the welfare of the citizens. The normative contents of political socialization is therefore to ask if the European union as a political system is better at solving a number of political tasks than the nation state and most liberalists would probably emphasize the benefits of the market more than the benefits of the political aspects of the union. The conservative tradition: In the conservative tradition the indentity of individuals is dependent on the community. Each individual is not independent and rational, but tradition / community / institutions represent rationality. This means that political socialization aims to make children familiar with common values. At national level this means that identity is developed by learning a common language, a common history, a common belief etc. National symbols are of great importance in the development of national identity. At the European level the European common cultural heritage becomes an essential element in the proces of socialization and it is obvious that some of the initiatives at union level exactly aim to increase this feeling of a common European identity. The legitimacy of the system is supported through the development of a European we-feeling. The European union has a value in itself and the European citizen takes his identity among others in this community. A conflict between various identities easily results from this proces, for example between national citizenship and European citizenship. The new conservative trend communitarianisme pay great attention to the development of the community feeling in the process of socialization (Alasdair MacIntyre, Frank Michelman, Charles Taylor, Michael Walzer, Michael Sandel, Amitai Etzioni, Robert Nisbeth, Herman Daly) Some communitarianist define the community so narrowly that it does not include all citizens in the larger national states and thus they are very sceptical of the idea of the European union as a real community. Other communitarianists are more open towards this possibility, but common to most conservatives is a refusal of the liberal idea of universal values, which in principle apply to all human beings (for example the civic rights). Even though a conservative socialization in principle may be characterised as legitimizing it also can take the point of criticism, as the political system also must be evaluated by to what extent it is able to protect a number of traditional ways of life (family, neighbourhood, friendship, local social relations etc) against tendencies in the political and economic development. The critical tradition: The critical tradition is in this context represented by the German theorist Jürgen Habermas. As liberalists Habermas is interested in individual s opportunities to realize own wishes and needs, but just as conservatives he is also interested in individuals depending on community. Individuals cannot realize their freedom as private persons, but must enter into a community of citizens, who mutually acknowledge each other as free and equal. Being a citizen you must participate in contexts with others. But democratic citizenship need not be based on a national identity, but is dependent on a common political culture. According to Habermas the political

3 democracy can function without a common cultural base. Habermas distinguishes between the state as a political institution and the nation as a cultural community. To develop European citizenship political socialization should develop a European political culture which could function in spite of different cultural ways of life in the individual member countries and between these. To qoute a Danish historian, Uffe Østergaard: With our hearts we are Danish, with our heads we are Europeans. The European political system must be evaluated by the extent it allows the individual citizen to participate in the public debate and in the political processes. According to Habermas the welfare state can no longer be preserved within the frames of the national states because of the internationalization and globalization of capital and market. The nationstate has become too small to solve the political problems. If the nationstates try to solve the economic and social problems themselves, unemployment and marginalization will arise. Therfore the state as a political institution must free itself from the nation as a cultural institution. New political institutions must therefore be created to solve the ecological, finansial and market related problems. Maybe the European union is able to solve some of these problems with a common social policy, a common minimum wage, a common economic policy etc., but this presupposes increased democratization with public debate and possibilities of national participation (Habermas suggests for example that the grass-roots organisations must be supported in order to get better access to the media). Thus political socialization should develop the actively participating citizen at a national as well as at a European level. As liberal, conservative and critical theory of democracy have different consequenses for political socialization in respect to national and European citizenship the consequenses for political socialization in regard to ethnic minorities are the same. In a short version liberals do not pay much attention to minority problems because humans are presumed equal and independent of groups and consequently minorityproblems are considered individual problems. To conservatives minorities represent problems and minorities should learn / internalize values of the majority culture as soon as possible. According to the critical tradition of democarcy minorities should learn / internalize the political culture of the majority but should be allowed to keep their own cultural community. So theory of democracy is important when discussing intercultural education.

4 Summary: Relation between individual and community The functions of the national state The European union Conflicts Liberalism Rational and independent individuals. Rights and responsibilities of individuals Secure the rights of citizens (no value in itself) The same function as the national state and no conflict between national and European level Individual versus state or union Conservatism/ communitarianism Irrational and dependent on community. Rights and obligations of individuals National culture and symbols create national identity (its own value) European culture and symbols create European identity - a possible conflict between national and European level Local versus regional versus national versus European identity Critical tradition Rational and dependent on community The state: a political institution. The nation: a cultural community The union is a political system independent of nations to solve common political problems Social groups and classes within the state and within the union What should be the focus in education for European citizenship The benefits and costs of the European political and economic system (the free political and economic market) The union represents a common European culture and should protect traditional ways of life The union represents a common European political culture and different national cultures

5 Résumé en français: Relations entre l individu et la communauté Fonctions de l étatnation Union Européenne Libéralisme Individu rationnel et indépendant. Droits et responsabilités des individus. Garantir les droits des citoyens (sans valeur en ellemême). Mêmes fonctions que l état-nation et aucun conflit entre les deux niveaux. Conflits Individu contre état / union. Que devrait être le foyer de l éducation pour la citoyenneté européenne? Bénéfices et coûts du système politique et économique européen ( marché politique et économique libre) Conservatisme/ communautarisme Individu irrationnel et dépendant de la communauté. Droits et obligations des individus. La culture nationale et les symboles nationaux créent l identité nationale (sa propre valeur). La culture européenne et les symboles européens créent l identité européenne. Conflit potentiel entre les niveaux nationaux et européens. Identité locale contre identité régionale contre identité nationale contre identité européenne. L union représente une culture européenne commune et devrait protéger les modes de vie traditionnelles. Tradition critique Individu rationnel et dépendant de la communauté. L état=une institution politique. La nation= une communauté culturelle. L union est un système politique - indépendant des nations - pour résoudre les problèmes politiques communs. Groupes sociaux et classes sociales dans l état-nation et dans l union. L union représente une culture politique européenne commune et des cultures nationales différentes.

6 Points to discuss: - is citizenship so important to identity? - are the distinctions between the liberal, conservative and critical traditions relevant? - do you recoqnize your own opinion on democracy and citizenship within these traditions? - do you think that citizenmaking in education can be seperated from theories of democracy? do you think that intercultural education can be seperated from theories of democracy? Haderslev Statsseminarium Lembckesvej 7 DK 6100 Haderslev Phone: Fax: haderslevsem@haderslevsem.dk Internet: