Civic Education in Palestine

For a democracy to survive and flourish, its citizens must know about the basic features of a democratic political system to be able to access it when their interests are at stake, and they must believe in the importance of certain key democratic values, such as tolerance for divergent viewpoints and support for the rule of law. They must also be willing and able to participate in local and national politics, and they must believe that their participa­tion is important to the continued viability of the democratic political system.

One of the tools to counter the lack of democratic socialisation is civic education, which, by imparting the necessary skills and knowl­edge, helps promoting support for democratic behaviors and values among ordinary citizens.

In a set of three seminars conducted in 2005, the PASSIA civic education pro­ject sought to develop and empower groups of young Palestinian profes­sionals to deal more effectively with the tasks ahead by en­hancing their civic knowledge , skills and norms. This publications contains a selection of the lectures and pres­entation given during those three seminars.

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: PASSIA, 2006
• Language: English

[Source: PASSIA, Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs]