A Politically Liberal Conception of Formal Education in a Developing Democracy

Abstract

As discussed by John Rawls, in a well-ordered society, a public political culture’s wide educational role bears the primary responsibility for developing reasonable individuals for the stability of a politically liberal society. Rawlsian scholars have also focused on the stability and enhancement of developed liberal democratic societies by means of those societies’ education systems. In this sense, one thing that is common to Rawlsian scholars’ and Rawls’s own understanding of the role of education appears to be a concern over the stability of a politically liberal society since it is highly dependent on the character of its citizens. Also, it is usually believed that a politically liberal account of education can be implemented in a developed politically liberal society. In contrast, this study discusses the possibility of implementing a politically liberal account of education in a developing liberal society that may become a developed liberal democracy under an overlapping consensus.

Keywords:

• John Rawls
• political liberalism
• politically liberal education
• developing democracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Rawls’s theory essentially takes its politically liberal character from the idea of an overlapping consensus. As Rawls (1993) mentions, ‘political liberalism conceives of social unity … as deriving from an overlapping consensus on a political conception of justice suitable for a constitutional regime’ (p. 201). Simply put, an overlapping consensus is the constitutional agreement among free, equal, and reasonable citizens that governs their everyday lives through the basic structure without interfering with their personal conceptions of the good. In addition, I do not provide a complete explanation of Rawls’s theory here since it would exceed the scope of this article. However, a clear and concise discussion of Rawls’s theory can be found, for example, in Brighouse (2004).

2. Although Rawls neglects the necessity of formal education, some scholars have developed and enhanced a politically liberal approach to education. See, for example, Bull (2008, 2012), Macedo (1995), Reidy (1996), and Strike (1982, 1994).

3. This is in fact a realistic possibility. Among the most developed contemporary democracies, North American democracies may be cited as examples of those that are more likely to be considered to be politically liberal democracies. Despite this, it is a less stable argument that the United States, for example, has reached a complete overlapping consensus on all aspects of its basic structure, when considering the fact that the United States has yet to reach an agreement on its health care system even though agreements have been reached on many other aspects of its basic structure. In the same manner, a developing liberal democracy may already have a consensus on its education system but not on the other areas, which still legitimately enables such a society to consider implementing a politically liberal conception of education.

4. This example may remind some readers, for instance, of Turkey, because Turkey is currently one of the candidate countries to the EU, whose membership aspiration goes further back in history compared to any other candidate (and even to some member) countries. However, it is a less stable argument that Turkey fulfills the basic conditions that can enable a state to be considered a developing liberal democracy which may possibly become a full-fledged politically liberal one. Of course, this point must be explored in detail from various perspectives including economic, social, and political ones, however, because the focus in this article is on applying a politically liberal conception of education in a developing liberal democracy that has reached an agreement on its education system, one may need to examine whether Turkey has reached an agreement on its education system. If Turkey would fulfill this condition, then one might consider Turkey as a specific example in this article in order to embody the main idea. However, a critical examination of the Turkish education system reveals that it is currently not a possible case for this country, although a consensus on the Turkish education system may possibly be achieved, which I discuss in detail elsewhere.

5. See Articles 165 and 166 under Title XII on Education, Vocational Training, Youth and Sport in the Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:115:0047:0199:EN:PDF. Furthermore, see the council conclusions on a strategic framework for the ET 2020, retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:119:0002:01:EN:HTML.

6. My aim here is neither to evaluate the EU’s accession chapters nor to provide a complete account of the EU’s educational policy. Instead, it is to illustrate how the educational perspective, including its educational policy framework, can enable us to justify the idea that a politically liberal conception of formal education can be put into practice in a developing democracy. For this reason, I provide a limited discussion of the EU’s policy on education.

7. This is the body of common rights and obligations with which all member states must comply.