Children, Democracy, and Education: A Deliberative Reconsideration

Looks at the present norms and practices of a new form of democratic education and children's democratic participation, utilizing both theoretical and empirical examination of children's deliberative agency.

How children participate in democracy has shifted toward more communicative, networked, and creative models than before. In political science and political theory, however, surprisingly little is understood about what if anything children can contribute to democracy and how they would do so. Traditionally, children have been considered as mere future citizens who are acknowledged only when they behave in accordance with adults' expectations. In this sense, children are one of the last frontiers of democratic inclusion, as they have long been seen and not heard. Children, Democracy, and Education critically examines and proposes how to counteract such a traditional view on children and retheorizes their position and role within contemporary democracy. Utilizing the empirically grounded concept of deliberative democratic learning, Kei Nishiyama then argues how we enable children's communicative participation and development in classrooms, schools, and social movements to expand the inclusive quality of democracy.