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Civic Republicanism and Civic Education Also by Andrew Peterson THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO EDUCATION (co-edited) (forthcoming) Civic Republicanism and Civic Education The Education of Citizens Andrew Peterson Canterbury Christ Church University, UK © Andrew Peterson 2011 Foreword © Prof. John Annette 2011 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-25194-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-32154-4 ISBN 978-0-230-30675-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230306752 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peterson, Andrew, 1976– Civic republicanism and civic education : the education of citizens / Andrew Peterson. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-349-32154-4 1. Citizenship – Study and teaching. 2. Civics – Study and teaching. 3. Democracy – Study and teaching. 4. Democracy and education. I. Title. LC1091.P48 2011 372.8392044—dc22 2011004891 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 For Jessica and Oliver Contents Acknowledgements viii Foreword ix Introduction 1 1 The Civic Republican Revival 7 2 The Origins of Civic Republican Thought 32 3 Civic Obligation and the Common Good 57 4 Civic Virtue 77 5 Civic Republican Deliberative Democracy 98 6 The Expression of Civic Republicanism in Civic Education 119 7 A Civic Republican Theory of Civic Education? 145 Notes 157 Bibliography 168 Index 183 vii Acknowledgements Whilst at times writing a book is a solitary experience, it is an endeav- our which cannot be achieved alone. I have a number of people to thank for their advice and support. First, I would like to thank the fol- lowing colleagues who each offered me thoughts, comments and criti- cal reflections on the ideas found in this book: Professor James Arthur, Professor Ian Davies, Professor John Annette, Dr Lynn Revell and Bob Bowie. Second, I would like to thank colleagues at Palgrave Macmillan for supporting this project and helping me through the stages from proposal to publication. Third, and most importantly, I would like to thank my fiancée Jessica and my son Oliver for their unswerving love, support and understanding. They have helped me more than they can know, and for this I am eternally grateful. viii Foreword Since the 1990s there has been a revival of civic republican political thinking within Western political thought. In his book ‘Civic Republicanism and Civic Education’ Andrew Peterson offers a sophisti- cated and remarkably clear analysis of this revival in relation not only to the debate between liberalism and communitarianism but also to the way in which civic republicanism can offer a public philosophy which can address contemporary public policy issues. He also links this revival to the equally recent development of the rethinking of the his- tory of political thought and the reconstruction of the civic humanist or republican ‘tradition’ of political thinking from Aristotle and Cicero via the ‘Machiavellian Moment’ to the foundations of the American Republic and beyond that to the elision of liberal and civic republican thinking in the nineteenth century exemplified by J. S. Mill. He pro- vides a nuanced interpretation which allows for the diversity and com- plexity of civic republican thinking. This is a remarkable book in terms of its clarity and its ability to address some of the key issues in civic republican political theory. I was greatly impressed by the author’s consideration of some of the core themes in civic republican theory: the nature of civic obligation, the awareness of the common good, the role of civic virtue and the com- mitment to deliberative democratic engagement. The chapter on deliberative engagement and the analysis of the civic republican conception of citizenship as a practice of active and participatory engagement is to be welcomed. What makes this book particularly original is that it probably is the first in-depth consideration of how the key themes of civic republicanism have influenced and can shape for the future the development of civic education in Western democratic nations. For this alone this book makes an original and substantial contribution to the literature on civic education, while it can also be read as an important contribution to our understanding of contemporary civic republican political theory. PROFESSOR JOHN ANNETTE, Birkbeck, University of London ix