The book highlights current issues influencing civic and citizenship education and their
theoretical underpinnings. It provides an overview of the key features influencing 'democratic
deconsolidation' suggests ways in which civic and citizenship education needs to be reframed
in order to fit this new political environment and demonstrates how social media will play a
significant role in any future for civic and citizenship education. Currently democratic
institutions are under attack democratic values are threatened and there is a wide-scale
retreat from the liberal consensus that has underpinned liberal democracies internationally.
These trends can be seen in events like Brexit the election of a right-wing populist
President of the United States and anti-democratic governments in parts of Europe. It is this
change in the direction of political ideology that is currently 'deconsolidating democracy' and
thus challenging traditional approaches to civic and citizenship education. What is urgently
needed is an understanding of these current trends and their implications for thinking in new
ways about civic and citizenship education in the 21st century.
