ABSTRACT

The legitimacy of political order, especially of democracies, is dependent on the support (Easton 1975) and participation of the citizens (Gabriel 1999). The essentiality of citizens’ participation for the legitimacy of democratic order results from participation’s capacity to unite both central/or conflicting dimensions of citizenship: agency and identity (Barber 1984:155 vs. Giddens 2001:684; see also Mackert and Müller 2000:16; etc.). It is thus not surprising that democratic states express their intention to strengthen and educate towards citizens’ participation. Within European policies of citizenship education, 2 participation seems to become an end in itself, something necessary and sufficient for providing democracy and for learning active citizenship, irrespective of its forms, expressions, intentions and results. In this chapter, I will pose the question whether participation—as it is positioned within European policies and practices of Education for Active Democratic Participation—refers to a state–citizens relation at all, and can thus be understood as teaching and learning political participation, which is essential for the legitimacy and continuity of democracy.