The weak link of democracy and the challenges of educating toward global citizenship

Before discussing the prospects for educating young people toward becoming global citizens, we must ask ourselves: is global citizenship reality or illusion? What can be stated is that plain citizenship itself can no longer be considered merely a legal or judicial question. Today, citizenship is only partially linked to rights and duties deriving from the recognition of an individual as belonging to a community (local, national or international). Future citizens of the digitally hyper-connected global village face two dangers: simulation of participation and the illusion of having a less asymmetrical relationship to power. The rules of engagement are not being written by legislators but by agencies producing and sharing knowledge; citizenship (global or otherwise) is intimately correlated with access to quality education. Three concepts form the basis for educating toward global citizenship: awareness that citizenship and education are inseparable, awareness that democracy and education are inseparable, and awareness that democracy is complexity.