Beata Krzywosz-Rynkiewicz - Böcker

Situated within the context of "post-soviet times", this book explores young people’s citizenship activities and values in three distinct environments: post-soviet union countries, post-soviet union satellites, and countries that were independent of the soviet-union. Its purpose is to investigate the influence of these contexts on the ways young people see their citizenship in what are now emerging democracies.The future of nations depends to a large extent on whether citizens will continue to support existing values and will engage in activities to support those values. Using a framework designed by Kennedy (2006) and further developed by Zalewska, Krzywosz-Rynkiewicz (2011) the study examined the citizenship values of 3794 students aged 11-14-18 from 11 European countries. The main themes of this book include exploring similarities and differences in citizenship activities within countries and across countries; advancing explanations for these similarities and differences; highlighting the importance of contexts that influence citizenship activities and values; and assessing the extent to which democratic values are reflected in young people’s citizenship activities.

This book compares the current status of democracy in selected Eastern European countries. The focus is on young people’s attitudes towards and experiences of democracy, including active political engagement. In many of these countries, democracy has been hard-won and may well need to be defended again in the future. The contributors collectively reflect on young adults exercising their civic rights and how they can influence the political system at both formal and informal levels.The chapters present different issues that arise in unique contexts but overall reflect the changing status of democracy and its effects on young people’s citizenship activity and education. The volume compares perspectives of three groups of Eastern European countries with different traditions and past histories of democracy and citizenship: Central European countries (Poland, Czech, Hungary); Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia); and post-soviet republics (Ukraine, Moldova). These countries differ in the status given to democracy, citizenship action traditions and education. At the same time, many countries have experienced recent turbulence related to democracy and different kinds of actions by young people. Comparing them leads to conclusions about omissions made in current citizenship education provision and what needs to be done for a better understanding of the needs of citizenship education in these difficult times. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars in citizenship and civic education, sociology, political science and Eastern European Studies.

This book compares the current status of democracy in selected Eastern European countries. The focus is on young people’s attitudes towards and experiences of democracy, including active political engagement. In many of these countries, democracy has been hard-won and may well need to be defended again in the future. The contributors collectively reflect on young adults exercising their civic rights and how they can influence the political system at both formal and informal levels.The chapters present different issues that arise in unique contexts but overall reflect the changing status of democracy and its effects on young people’s citizenship activity and education. The volume compares perspectives of three groups of Eastern European countries with different traditions and past histories of democracy and citizenship: Central European countries (Poland, Czech, Hungary); Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia); and post-soviet republics (Ukraine, Moldova). These countries differ in the status given to democracy, citizenship action traditions and education. At the same time, many countries have experienced recent turbulence related to democracy and different kinds of actions by young people. Comparing them leads to conclusions about omissions made in current citizenship education provision and what needs to be done for a better understanding of the needs of citizenship education in these difficult times. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars in citizenship and civic education, sociology, political science and Eastern European Studies.