This post is a summary of a didactic material published in December of 2010 at http://www.mpn.gov.rs/wpcontent/uploads/2015/09/EDC_HRE_Volume_I_Educationg_for_democrac
Newspaper readers or TV news watchers will find that many media reports on politics fall into one of the following two categories: Politicians attack their opponents. In doing so, they may question their rivals' integrity or ability to hold office. Politicians discuss solutions to solve problems. These two categories of political events correspond to Max Weber's classic definition of politics: Politics is a quest and struggle for power. Without power, no politician can achieve anything. Politics is something eminently practical and relevant, and discussion must result in decisions. Of course, we think of political leaders who must meet standards. There are prominent examples of leaders who stand for the extremes, the populist and the professor. One tends to turn politics into a show stage, the other into a lecture hall. The first may win the election, but will do little. The second may have good ideas, but only a few will understand them. However, not only political leaders and decision makers face this dilemma, but also every citizen who wishes to take part in politics. In a public setting, speaking time is limited, and only those speakers will make an impact whose point is clear and easy to understand. Teachers will discover that there are parallels betweeen communication in public and communication in school, the scarcity of time, the need to be both clear and simple, but also able to handle complexity. Exercising human rights, such as freedom of thought and speech, taking part in elections, is therefore a demanding task for all citizens, not only political leaders. In Education for Democracy and Human Rights, people receive the training and the encouragement that they need to take part in public debates and decision making. Politics is conceived as a process of defining political problems in a controversial agenda-setting process, and both in defining a political problem and excluding other from the agenda, a considerable element of power is involved. There is a heuristic concept of political problems and the common good, no one is in a position to define beforehand what the common good is. The individuals taking part in the process have to find out and to compromise. Participation is imperfect in social reality, with certain individuals and groups systematically having less access to power and decision-making process, thus that requires attention to increasing the access of less powerful. In Abraham Lincoln's famous quotation (1863), "democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people"; the three definitions can be understood as follows: OF: power comes from the people, and whoever is part of authority may be held responsible by the people. BY: power is exercised either through elected representatives or direct rule by the citizens. FOR: power is exercised to serve the interested of the people, that is, the common good. No matter how long the democratic tradition is in a country and how it has developed it can not be taken for granted. In every country, democracy and human rights have to be permanently developed to meet the challenges that every generation faces. Every generation has to be educated in democracy and human rights. Core elements of modern democracies include: 1) A constitution protected by an independent high court. 2) Governments that have signed human rights conventions are obliged to uphold the range of rights they have ratified, regardless of whether they are in the constitution. 3) The equal status of all citizens. 4) Universal suffrage. In addition, some systems include the right for citizens to make decisions on a certain issue by direct vote. 5) Wide ways to participate. This includes the freedom of the media, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and the right of political opposition to act freely. 6) Pluralism. 7) Parliament, the body of elected representatives has the power of legislation. 8) Majority rule: the minority must accept the decision. Constitution define limits for majority rule that protect the rights of minorities. 9) Checks and balances: democracies combine two principles: the authority to exercise force rests with the state. However, to prevent power of force to turn into autocratic or dictatorial rule, all democracies systems include checks. The classical model divides state powers into legislation, executive and jurisdiction. Democracy gives more freedom to individuals than any other system of government, provided it is set in an order, that is, an institutional framework, and implemented as such. To function well, democracy relies on a state that exercise the rule of law and achieves an accepted degree of distributive justice. A dysfunctional state means that a government is not able to carry out its constitutional framework and laws. Democracies depend on their citizens to what extent the strengths of democracies are unfolded and their weakness are kept in check. Democracies are demanding systems, depending on their citizens' active involvement and support, an attitude of informed and critical loyalty. Democracy depend equally on a set of rules and on the citizens' attitudes towards democracy. There can be no democracy without democrats. Each generation receives its democratic heritage, and will hopefully understand and appreciate it, and learn how to make active use of it. The cultural traditions that are favourable for democracy develop slowly. A blueprint of a democratic institution can be imported, as it were, but the cultural roots of democracy can not, they must literally stem from the society's cultural heritage. Political culture can therefore be conceived in constructivist categories. It is acquired through processes of learning and socialisation. Therefore it makes a difference whether schools are governed democratically or autocratically, as the students may be expected to learn how to live in, or under, the form of government they experience in early life. Teachers can bring human rights alive in their classroom through examples they use, questions they raise, critical thinking and reflection, etc, One of the key challenges is not only helping to make human rights less abstract but also having students fall in love with the idea of human rights. Different definitions of politics are possible. A quite common one that is useful for teaching applies a three-dimensional model of politics: issues, decisions, and institutions. The dimension of political issues: in politics, people argue for their interests or about the question how a problem or a dilemma is to be identified and solved. Sometimes people organise themselves in groups in order to express their collective interests. Debate and controversy are something normal in politics; they reflect different interests and opinions in a pluralist society. The dimension of political decision-making: in politics, problems are urgent, they affect the interests of the community as a whole, or a big group of people. They demand action to be taken, so the discussion must lead up to a decision, with subsequent action. The institutional dimension of politics refers to the framework in which politics take place. What powers are given to whom? How are lections held? How are laws made? What rights foes the parliamentasry opposition have? This dimension therefore includes the constitution, rules, and laws that define how political issues are dealt with peacefully in democratic decision-making process. A wider concept also includes a cultural dimension, the values and attitudes that govern the citizen's political behaviour.
