Cultivating democracy
The raison d’être of political education
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Political education in Germany, which was built up on a broad basis after World War II, is encountering increasing difficulties. The closing down of the State Centre for Political Education in Lower Saxony at the end of 2004 was a disturbing signal for those directly involved in political education, but the public at large has not yet shown any concern about this. Has political education had its day? A closer analysis shows that political education’s tasks have changed, and that the range of issues it must address in our complex and complicated society and in a globalized world has even grown. Political education needs more generous funding, but it must also develop the didactic and methodological tools needed if it is to reach broader strata of the population.
(Osteuropa 8/2005, pp. 39–48)