Changing Notions of Citizenship Education in Contemporary Nation-states

Book excerpt: This book offers an examination into the meanings of citizenship in the contemporary world, and trends that are forcing a rethinking of the concept in today’s nation-states. These changing meanings, in turn, give rise to new understandings of, and approaches to, citizenship education. The underlying values of participation, deliberation, and loyalty or patriotism that define different notions of citizenship are under strain in a world increasingly defined by global processes, by the rise of transnational or supranational institutions, and by interconnections that bring different cultures and value systems into closer contact with each other. What does this new citizen look like? What does this new citizen need to know, or need to be able to do? To whom, and to what, is this new citizen loyal? One way to think about this new citizen is as a cosmopolitan”, a citizen of the world more than of any particular nation-state; another way to think about it is in terms of different kinds or levels of affiliation, existing simultaneously (to nation and to regional alliance, such as the European Union, for example). These conditions of citizenship, and of citizenship education, are rapidly changing and diverse - and in some instances they come into conflict. This collection of essays an outstanding international group of scholars examines the tensions between national, transnational, and postnational conceptions of citizenship, brought back always to the grounded question of citizenship education and how to go about it. The authors illuminate the complexity and subtlety of these issues, and offer helpful guidance for rethinking the meanings and values that inform our educational endeavours.