Diminishing civic vitality has been reported in numerous societies, irrespective of democratic maturity. Mandatory community service initiatives in schools have garnered attention as a strategy for fostering long-term civic engagement. However, methodological challenges such as selection bias and observation timing have led to inconsistent…

Participedia is a collaborative, digital learning tool for the co-production of knowledge about new forms of citizen participation across the world (www.participedia.net). In this paper, we analyse using the platform as a learning resource for adult learners who are democracy practitioners and for undergraduate students. We examine Participedia's…

In Africa, as in many countries of the South, democratization is sometimes perceived as a process modeled upon outside--and specifically Northern--experience. Formal civic education programs in those countries arguably reflect the same bias and have not always been notably successful. Yet there are rich patterns of civic involvement and democratic…

This article discusses the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a deliberative public issues forum held at North Carolina State University in early 2008. The forum itself was a part of a larger university strategic planning process. In spite of tight time constraints, the planning team made a decision to tailor the forum according to…

It is possible that human capital produces positive externalities to the society indirectly, through non-market channels such as health or crime. Another such channel could be the effect of education on the functioning of democratic decision-making. Measures of the functioning of democracy are bound to be controversial, but one such measure--voter…

In September 2003, Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts launched two new civic development efforts--clustering and schoolwide governance--and moved into a new building designed to facilitate them. Clustering is designed to achieve a sense of community within a large school by creating small communities of 100 to 150 students. To create…

This article is not about local governance of education "per se," but rather whether education can be used as a tool to foster citizen participation, particularly that of women. It examines how education might empower women, who are often excluded from local, regional and national governance, to participate in public life. It draws on…