Critiquing the Role of Deliberative Democracy in EE and ESD : The Case for Effective Participation and Pragmatic Deliberation

• There has been much written of the potential positive impact in Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This article explores the reliance on deliberative democracy by the proponents of EE/ESD and whether or not they have justification for their beliefs. Specifically, participation and deliberation will be separated in order to identify any faults in these values that may prevent democracy – and therefore education – from addressing the problems of sustainable development and environmental concerns. Through a deconstruction of the relevant literature and a clarification of the lines of thought brought forth throughout the various arguments, it is shown that there are few good theoretical or empirical reason for advocating a deliberative democratic approach to EE/ESD as feverishly as some do. Instead, the case for an educational method and content based on the empirically observed characteristics of current liberal democracies will be made.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Filosofi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Philosophy (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Sustainable Development

Environmental Education

deliberative democracy

participation

liberal democracy

philosophy

Curriculum Studies

Didaktik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)