Civic and Voter Education
Civic and Voter Education Index
The link between education and civic life was made by Aristotle:
“But the greatest of all the means … to secure the stability of constitutions … is a system of education suited to the Constitutions” (Politics V vii 20).
The topic area takes for granted that the educational endeavour is intended to promote and sustain democracy. It is perfectly possible to contemplate a civic education project which intends merely to sustain a civility entrenched in a civilized but essentially static and aloof aristocracy – the context within which the term emerged, first in Rome and then in pre-Elizabethan urban England.
Here is an introduction to civic education and to voter education, a popular but more limited component of civic education. It explores the possibilities and constraints of civic education as a way to secure democracy in varying political contexts. It will explain some of the terminology being used around the world and the institutional settings that are most effective, and will then offer the civic educator a comprehensive toolbox for establishing and implementing a programme. Guidance is given on various techniques, methods and materials, and sections deal with financing, monitoring, evaluating and institutionalizing programmes.
The topic area considers civic education and then, where appropriate, the more specific voter education programmes which are necessary for election preparation. Election authorities which have the broad civic education mandate will find this discussed together with the more restrictive voter education or even voter information mandate which other election management bodies must perform. Most of the text is of general educational interest, unless it specifically refers to the more circumscribed tasks of voter education.
Major topics within Civic and Voter Education:
EC-UNDP Partnership on Electoral Assistance
Considerations on Technology Solutions
