The central question embodied in the title of this collection, `Can democracy be taught?` must move us, first, to examine what we mean by the term democracy. If democracy as a concept is not discussed openly, then individuals with different philosophies of democracy will likely find that they are unable to agree about the nature of education for democracy. The question of the nature of democracy is especially important for countries that have not experienced democracy, for countries in which political leaders push at the edges of the concept to be able to call a home-grown governance system `democratic,` and in countries where the term democracy has become a meaningless catchword.

The essays in this volume were written by authors from the United States, South Africa, Germany, and Russia. They were developed as papers that were presented at a 1993 conference on Education for Democracy at Ohio State University, sponsored by the university`s Mershon Center, and have been rewritten and expanded for this volume. The authors` areas of expertise include civic education, the problems of minorities, the American Constitution, the transition to democracy in former communist countries, and education and democracy in South Africa and in Japan.

All of the authors concern themselves with aspects of the ideal of democracy: what it is, how it evolves, and the goals of democracy yet to be achieved in various settings. Each author implies that democracy has a concrete definition with a range of features. Thus each author also posits that certain social arrangements are