Democracy and Political Education

This chapter is centred on examining assumptions underpinning political education practices in democratic countries. Particularly, the chapter maps out prevalent discourses of democracy (i.e. neoliberalism, liberalism, deliberativist democracy, critical theory, participatory democracy, radical democracy and decolonial theory) and the influence these discourses have had on political education. The chapter classifies these discursive alternatives within three distinctive understandings of democracy and education (i.e. pragmatic democracy and narrow education; aspirational democracy and strong education; and open democracy and weak education). It is argued that modern accounts of democracy dominate political education practice through “strong” forms of education. These accounts assume that the pursuit of knowledge, democratic values and freedom are mutually dependent.