Session Information
17 SES 14, Challenging Democracy Education as a Political Tool in the Conflict between Democracy and Totalitarianism, 1900-2000
Symposium
Contribution
Education has always enjoyed the particular attention of political, social and religious elites, since it is an instrument in shaping secular and religious values of the future generation and an important vehicle for social mobility. Debates about the function of education in instructing youth to become ‘good citizens’ are by no means limited to the present. Also during the 19th and 20th century, education has been a major stake of the state building process of a democratic nation. In that sense, it was not only the subject of struggle between different political national groupings. The 20th century saw the emergence of totalitarian regimes, such as Fascism, National Socialism or Stalinism, that challenged liberal parliamentary democracy. Education proofed a major political tool in this conflict, for it was an important means for bringing about acceptance of the regime and for creating a ‘new political class’.
This symposium is precisely concerned with the function of education as a element in the relation between democracy and totalitarianism. The aim of this symposium is twofold. Its first goal is to discuss the influence of totalitarian regime changes, ideological conflict or war on the European educational system. At the same time, the question arises as to how liberal parliamentary democracy responded to these challenges, since particularly after periods of conflict, the political commitment of democratic states was re-emphasized or re-formulated and the previous conflict functioned as an incentive for educational reform.
In other words, this symposium is concerned with both educational reform under totalitarian rule and the role of education as a tool for post-conflict reconstruction and/or reconciliation. In doing so, it contributes to the discussion of renewed educational policy during times of (political or ideological) conflict, education as the stake in the process of nation-building and schooling as an instrument in the processes of post-conflict peace building and national reconstruction.
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