Example Lesson Plan

Democracy

Overarching Question:What kind of a place is Europe and what kind of place do you want it to be?

Thematic Question:What kind of a democracy is Europe and what kind of democracy would you like it to be?

Rationale:People very often think that Europe is an equivalent of a democracy. They forget that democracy has quite recently been achieved in most of the European countries and some are still living in a kind of dictatorship. Furthermore while talking about democracy people often think about the kind of democracy they know because of the system in their own country. Hence, these systems differ from country to country. Finally it seems that unless they are in favour of a democratic system people are increasingly less willing to vote. The question is whether voting is the only way for citizens to participate in a democracy.

Link to subject content/This lesson explores the ideas people in Europe have about

curriculum:democracy.

Lesson Focus Question:To what extent do Europeans support democracy?

Lesson activities:

  1. Strategy: Traffic lights (5 mins)

Each student has a small green, yellow and red card, which mean “yes”, “no”, or “don't know”. The students hold up the cards so the teacher and the pupils can see the responses. The teacher asks the following questions:

  1. In Europe people are interested in politics.
  2. In Europe people support democracy.
  3. In Europe people have more or less the same ideas about democracy.

The statements won’t be discussed, but the traffic light game is repeated at the end of the lesson as an evaluation.

  1. Strategy: Intelligent Guesswork (20 mins)

a)The teacher introduces the topic and asks the students if politics is important in their life. Students will express a range of opinions that at this stage should go unchallenged.

b)In the grid below, students guess what they think the average response would be for each group of countries:

In this country do you think people agreed with the statement:

Politics is very or quite important in my life.

/ Strongly Agree / Agree / Don’t agree or disagree / Disagree / Strongly Disagree
Netherlands
Italy
Spain
Germany
Sweden
Turkey
Poland

c) The pupils look at the map

d)And using the data in the map, they can decide if their ideas were correct or not.

The map shows an interesting pattern (politics isn’t important in most of the new democracies in Central Europe, and also not in the Iberian Peninsula).

  1. Strategy: Snowball (30 mins)

In this activity, students should be sat in groups of 4. Each group should be allocated one of the countries in the above table. Assuming the role of that country and the value expressed in the map above, the students must select which of the statements in the table they think apply to that country.

Firstly as individuals, the students select 9 statements they think will apply.

Then in pairs, they agree on 6 statements.

Then as a group of 4, they once more agree on 3 statements.

Having experts, not the government, make decisions would be a good idea. / People follow politics on TV or radio or newspapers every day or several times a week. / If there were a general election tomorrow, people would vote.
Democracies are not good at maintaining order. / Society must be radically changed. / Having the army rule the country would be a good idea.
Having a strong leader would be a good idea. / Greater respect for authority would be a good thing. / People are satisfied with the way democracy is developing in their country.
People have confidence in the government. / People have confidence in political parties. / People have confidence in Parliament.
Fighting rising prices would be a good thing. / More say in government decisions would be a good thing. / Protecting freedom of speech would be a good thing.

Each group should now have 3 statements that they agree are relevant to their assigned country.

As a class each group shares what they think the main statements are and then argues if they agree with this position.

Then the teacher gives every group the relevant maps from the Atlas of European Values according to the statements they have chosen. The students read the maps carefully and discuss if they still agree with their choice.

The teacher brings this discussion together by discussing how they did this task: did they rely on their knowledge of these countries? Did they use stereotypes? To what extent can they really know what people in another country think?

The purpose of this activity is to get the students to consider other points of view and why people may develop different attitudes and values. The final discussion encourages them to critique their own thinking during the activity.

  1. Strategy: Traffic lights (10 mins)

Each student still has a small green, yellow and red card, which mean “yes”, “no”, or “don't know”. The students hold up the cards so the teacher and the pupils can see the responses. The teacher asks the following questions:

  1. In Europe people are interested in politics.
  2. In Europe people support democracy.
  3. In Europe people have more or less the same ideas about democracy.

The following map should be shown:

The teacher then organises a short discussion about how they have changed their opinions during the lesson and how the students would like Europe’s democracy to develop in the future.

  1. Task: What kind of a democracy is Europe and what kind of democracy would you like it to be? (20 mins)

The students get the text with background information about democracy and after having read the text the teacher discusses the statements at the beginning of the text with the students.

What kind of a democracy is Europe and what kind of democracy would you like it to be?

Before reading the text, please answer if the following statements are right or wrong:

1. Member states of the European Union are supposed to have the same democratic system. Otherwise they cannot join the European Union. YES/NO

2. In European democracies the majority determines the politics of a country. YES/NO

3. Most of the European people support democracy. YES/NO

4. The history of a country has an influence on the support for democracy of the people. YES/NO

5. In a democracy the political discussion has to take place in parliament. YES/NO

6. The political institutions of the European Union are organised in the same way as the member states. YES/NO

7. Member states of the European Union don’t agree on how European democracy should function. YES/NO

Are European countries democracies? The formal answer is yes for most countries in Europe, but do Europeans have the same ideas about democracy?

Generally there’s a difference between three types of democracy occurring in Europe:

A. PENDULUM DEMOCRACY
e.g. United Kingdom (but you won’t find all characteristics as described below)
The model is characterised by:
"The winner takes it all". It's a two party system in which the pendulum may swing to the right one time and then to the left in the next elections. If you don't win you are left with empty hands.
*concentration of power in one-party government
*dominant power of government in parliament
*representative district system
*plurality voting system
*centralised government
* civil servants possess much power
* leadership is important
*mainly a spectator's democracy.
Advantage: alertness
Disadvantage: lower commitment of citizens
B. CONSENSUS DEMOCRACY
e.g. The Netherlands (but you won’t find all characteristics as described below)
The model is based on dissensus, differences of opinion and world-view. They often find their roots in divided and compartmentalised societies (cultural, political and religious pillars). A lot of self control and patience is needed to reach agreements.
*division of power in broad coalitions
*dualistic and balanced relations between parliament and government.
*numerous party system
*proportional representative voting system
*organised consultation between social partners
*decentralised administration
*independent central bank
*leadership moderate
*citizen is both spectator and advisor.
Advantage: controlled integration and cooperation
Disadvantage: slow decision-making process
C. VOTERS DEMOCRACY
e.g. Switzerland (but you won’t find all characteristics as described below)
The voter plays a key role. It’s a kind of direct democracy. “Putting the voter first”. Referenda, direct consultation of the voter are means that are applied. Votes and majorities count.
*direct consultation of the people
*direct responsibility of leaders
*emphasis on free market
*leaders are directly elected
*opinion polls are important
*based on autonomy of the individual
*citizens have an active role in administration
Advantage: private initiative, free association
Disadvantage: public madness, populism

Reference: Frank Hendriks (2006). Vitale Democratie. Theorie van democratie in actie. Amsterdam University Press. Amsterdam

Even in the country with the lowest support, more than 2/3 of the population think that democracy is the best political system. However, that means that in some European countries up to 1/3 of the people have different ideas. There are several reasons for that: The democracy in a country could be poor, for example, the freedom of press is limited, political opponents are persecuted, democratic institutions like the parliament are weak and politicians are corrupt. Another reason could be that countries don’t have a long democratic tradition yet. Hence, the fall of the Iron Curtain was only twenty years ago. Especially in these transformation countries people could be disappointed about the reforms which have increased economical inequality.

Furthermore support for democracy doesn’t necessarily mean participation in elections. Although decisions in a country are made by political institutions like a parliament or government, political debate also takes place elsewhere. Think about petitions, demonstrations or actions like occupying buildings or infrastructure. Besides, media like TV or Internet play an increasing role in democracy. And finally people are becoming more and more politically mature due to higher education and income and they want to make decisions on their own and don’t accept political authority as a matter of course.

When talking about European democracy we often think about the European Union. Having a functioning democratic system is one of the requirements of becoming a member state. But some argue that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the EU is a democracy itself. Although there is a European Parliament it doesn’t have the same rights as national parliaments have and the European Commission and other institutions are determined by the national governments of the member states. This is because there are different opinions about the future of the European Union. Some want to preserve the influence of the national governments and prefer a ‘weak’ Union. Others would like to see the European Union develop into a real federal state with fully developed European institutions and voting for European parties…etc. The question is what kind of democracy would you like Europe to be?

Maps for the teachers (snowball)