ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates conceptions of democracy, citizenship and participation relevant for policies and practices of participatory citizenship education (PCE; henceforth “citizenship education”) in Europe, with reference to considerations of Detlef Sack in this volume, who argues for the necessity of and points out the scarcity of critical reflection on democracy and the democratic promise within citizenship education. 1 It furthermore analyses the conceptualisations of democracy, citizenship and participation predominant in international comparative research approaches to citizenship education; the way in which they mirror political and educational discourses on the topic; and how they have the potential of influencing educational practices.
