Fostering democracy through law and civic education.

• Author: Abisellan, Ernest

Around the world, concerned individuals, associations, and nongovernmental organizations are working to foster civil societies, advance the levels of freedom and civil liberties, consolidate hard-fought democratic gains, and foster the development of liberal democracies. Expanding its impact on Florida students to engage in multicultural law and civic education programs, The Florida Law Related Education Association, Inc., participates in Civitas, a reciprocal international initiative which provides for a series of exchanges among leaders in civic education in the United States and emerging and established democracies around the world.

Civitas: An International Civic Education Exchange Program is administered nationally by the Center for Civic Education and funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, in cooperation with the U.S. Information Agency and its affiliated offices throughout the world.(1)

The goals of the Civitas Exchange Program are to:

* Acquaint international educators with exemplary curricular and teacher training programs in civic education developed in the United States;

* Assist educators in adapting and implementing effective civic education programs in their own countries;

* Create instructional materials for students in the United States that will help them better understand emerging constitutional democracies;

* Facilitate the exchange of ideas and experience in civic education among political, educational, and private sector leaders in the United States and emerging and established democracies; and

* Encourage research to determine the efforts of civic education on the development of the knowledge, skills, and traits of public and private character essential for the preservation and improvement of constitutional democracy.

The Civitas Exchange Program is affiliated with Civitas International, a consortium initiated in June 1995 at the Civitas@Prague conference sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. At the close of that conference, participants representing more than 50 nations signed a declaration pledging to "create and maintain a worldwide network that will make civic education a higher priority on the international agenda." Members of Civitas International include leading civic education organizations from throughout the world dedicated to strengthening civic education and constitutional democracy.(2)

The Florida Law Related Education Association, Inc., has been involved in the Civitas Exchange Program since its inception in 1995.(3) The association has been partnered with Civitas-Hungary, a nongovernmental organization in Budapest, which is...