COMENIUS DENMARK
Definition
Assumes people are inherently good (conceived by John
Stuart Mill, 19th century)
Assumes democracy has MORAL purpose
Open-minded society
Develop civic participation
Aim: change cultures of poverty and despair into places
of agency, variety
Open space for development(s)
Who is the citizen?
Agents of their own development
Citizen as the co-creator of a democratic society, not as rightsbearing individuals whose highest act is voting
Self-directing
Should behave out of their interests or their values and not
because of external influence
“I am asking you not only to believe in my ability to make
change, I am asking you to believe in yours.” – Barack Obama
What are the main tasks?
Developing civic agency
Creating opportunities for all citizens to contribute their
talents, experience, and skills to the process of
developing a country (social justice)
→ collective action dimension
“[The] goal is not to put supporters to work but to enable
them to put themselves to work.“ – Tim Dickinson,
reporter for “Rolling Stone Magazine“
What is the method?
Organizing :
Development cannot be done “to” people. People have to
become the agents of their own development
Civic action with a strong focus on popular education to
develop skills and habits of civic agency
What is the government‘s role?
Catalyze the process of political development
by passing laws, etc.
Educate the citizens
Secure and check the surrounding conditions
Who is the government worker?
Civic partner
Citizen who is interested in being actively involved in politics
Organizer
of public education through public work
Catalyst
Catalyze the process of developmental democracy
How is self-interest understood?
Integrated and expanded with civic purposes through
work
→ people are interested in public goods
→ people want to shape state/democracy
as they want/for public goods
What is power?
Power of the citizens to …
… elect a representative
… express one’s opinion
… choose how actively/in which way they participate in
politics
In comparison to other democratic systems, the citizen
has the most power.
Developmental
democracy
Who is the citizen?
Co-creator - solving
problems, co-creating
public goods
What are the main
tasks?
Developing civic
agency
What is the method?
Organizing
What is
government’s role?
Catalyst, resource,
convener
‘by the people`
Civic partner,
organizer, catalyst
Who is the
government worker?
How is self-interest
understood?
What is power?
Integrated and
expanded with civic
purposes through work
Power to
http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/downloads/Boyte_Developmental_Democracy.pdf (30.06.2014)
Thank you for your attention!
The COMENIUS-group from Germany
Sources
http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/downloads/Boyte_Developm
ental_Democracy.pdf
http://www.cios.org/EJCPUBLIC/006/2/00629.HTML
AP Govt Theories of Democracy lecture.ppt
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