The crucible of democracy: Civic education in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Civic education is increasingly being used to impart political skills and knowledge to young citizens in emerging democracies. Research on the effectiveness of these efforts has been generally scant, but attention to this area has begun to grow, especially as geopolitical events have led to a recent acceleration of democratization worldwide. My dissertation contributes to the renewed interest in understanding the impact of political education by analyzing a civic education program implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2001, I surveyed over 1,400 adolescent students to identify predictors for important measures of political engagement. The primary objective was to determine whether a school-based program. We the People...Project Citizen, changed students' political attitudes and improved skills that are conducive to participatory citizenship. The results confirm that civic education, if implemented well, may positively affect some attitudes and skills. Hierarchical linear models revealed that program participants felt more empowered to take political action, greater appreciation of the rights of citizens in a democratic state, and more supportive of the rule of law than their nonparticipating peers. Participants were also more politically involved. Surprisingly, levels of political tolerance were lower among participants; however, this seems to be the time-specific result of sectarian violence that erupted while the survey was fielded. I also identified predictors of adolescents' political attitudes and participation independent of their involvement with civic education.