Democratic Education Under Siege: Cultivating Citizenship in Challenging Times

In an era of growing democratic fragility, this book offers a timely and urgent examination of how civic education is being reshaped worldwide. Moving beyond rote knowledge or generic civic ideals, this edited volume explores how educators navigate complex political, social, and institutional pressures while striving to cultivate critical, inclusive, and participatory forms of democratic citizenship. Spanning diverse geopolitical contexts, from post-authoritarian societies to conflict zones and multicultural democracies, the chapters present grounded case studies from countries including the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, Argentina, Spain, Israel, the United States, and across Northern and Western Europe. Together, these contributions shed light on how teachers, students, communities, and civil society actors engage with civic education in settings marked by polarization, state control, misinformation, and cultural contestation. Rather than offering prescriptive solutions, the book invites readers into a global conversation about what democratic education can and should look like in our current moment. It is essential reading for scholars, educators, and policymakers working in international and comparative education, social studies education, democratic civic education, and democratic theory, as well as for teachers and teacher educators engaged in the work of fostering democratic citizenship.