Routledge Citizenship, Education and Social Conflict: Israeli Political Education in Global Perspective (Routledge Research in Education)

This volume provides new perspectives into the challenges of citizenship education in the age of globalization and in the context of multicultural and conflict-ridden societies. It calls on us to rethink the accepted liberal and national discourses that have long dominated the conceptualization and practice of citizenship and citizenship education in light of social conflict, globalization, terrorism, and the spread of an extreme form of capitalism. The contributors of the volume identify the main challenges to the role of citizenship education in the context of globalization, conflicts and the changes to the institution of citizenship they entail and critically examine the ways in which schools and education systems currently address – and may be able to improve – the role of citizenship education in conflict-ridden and multicultural contexts. Review "Educating for citizenship is never an easy task but it is far more complex when in the context of conflict and incompatible views of citizenship, democracy and equality. Moving from theory to practice, and from the uniqueness of the Israeli/Palestinian context to universalities, this book becomes a necessary and most welcome contribution to the field." - Professor (Emeritus) Gavriel Salomon "This volume is a timely reminder that, even though there is much international enthusiasm for civic education, it remains a field of contested theory, practice and policy. The first part of the book discusses these issues. The second part draws vividly on specific examples in Israel, a dynamic society to which many of the assumptions taken for granted in stable Western societies do not apply. Through these rich, insightful and often provocative analyses we see how tensions around identity, religion, ethnicity, inclusion and exclusion play out. This is an illuminating and refreshing contribution to the many difficult debates with which those involved in civic education, globally, must engage." - Helen Haste, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Bath and Visiting Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education "This is an important book. It seeks to develop a conflict theory of citizenship and citizenship education, in distinction to the traditional views of comprehensive liberalism and civic republicanism. Such a conflict theory acknowledges the deep and sometimes intractable frictions among groups in society, in distinction to views that more optimistically seek to reconcile or mitigate such frictions. This starting point strikes me as realistic and honest, without giving up the broader aims of fostering a just, tolerant society. Drawing from a range of post-liberal, critical theory, and poststructural sources, the essays in this book develop, in the first part, a rich and original take on rethinking citizenship education in a diverse global context; and in the second part a set of essays that relate these concerns to a case study context where deep and intractable frictions seem unavoidable: contemporary Israel. The result is a theoretically rich, politically hard-headed and honest engagement with the possibilities and challenges of citizenship education today. Its implications reach far beyond the Israeli contest to touch on difficulties faced by every nation-state, indeed virtually every community, in today’s world." - Nicholas C. Burbules, Gutgsell Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign About the Author Hanan A. Alexander is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Haifa and Goldman Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley specializing in political, moral, spiritual, religious, and Jewish education. His publications include Reclaiming Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest which won a 2002 National Jewish Book Award and Spirituality and Ethics in Education: Philosophical, Theological and Radical Perspectives. Halleli Pinson is a lecturer at Ben-Gurion Uni