Learning Democracy? European Democracies and Education for Democratic Citizenship

Do international education programs contribute to democratic values? The quality of democracies worldwide is decreasing, including a gradual decrease in democratic freedoms, often initiated by a legally elected government. These developments take place in contrast to many education programs promoted by IOs and member states, which established programs linked to democratic citizenship in their curricula. The effects that such educational programs have on the quality of democracies are thus puzzling, and this paper will analyze potential effects in four steps: First, I introduce the theoretical framework on the diffusion of norms and policies linked to education. Second, I outline the methodology. Focusing on the prevalence of relevant programs in Europe, I use qualitative data from various sources, including international research initiatives and National Action Plans, to determine which programs exist in a democracy. I will conduct correlation analyses using Freedom House data on the quality of respective democracies to deepen our understanding of how democratic citizenship education and the state of democracy are interrelated. Third, I will present the results of the analysis, aimed at showing effects over time and across countries. In the fourth step, I will give a conclusion and outlook to possible future research on the effects of democratic citizenship education norms on the quality of democracy. By mapping the global diffusion of democratic education and analyzing its influence on the quality of democracy, this paper contributes to scholarship on the diffusion of educational norms as well as to a better understanding of factors that prevent democratic backsliding.