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Education is about more than preparing students for the labor market; it is about preparing them to be active citizens in democratic societies, to engage in personal growth, and to develop a broad, advanced knowledge base. As Sjur Bergan emphasizes in European Higher Education, Social Responsibility, and the Local Democratic Mission, advocacy is required to ensure that higher education institutions meet these goals through cooperation with their local communities.

Bergan outlines the political and institutional complexity of European universities. He explains how history, cultural traditions, and national identities impact education across Europe. He also describes the roles of the Council of Europe and U.S. higher education in the development of a transatlantic cooperation on the democratic mission of higher education. Other chapters explore education programs for developing and maintaining democracy and human rights, pragmatic and creative ways that European universities are working with their local communities, and the development of education opportunities for refugees.

Ultimately, Bergan’s book explores not only the local democratic mission of higher education as it has developed in Europe, but also how it could continue to develop, and why it is important it does so.
In the series Higher Education, Place, and Social Responsibility.

How the everyday habits and attitudes of ordinary liberals and conservatives shape the health of American democracy.

In Everyday Democracy, Jeffrey M. Berry, James M. Glaser, and Deborah J. Schildkraut study Americans’ views of several manifestations of “everyday democracy,” which they define as the attitudes, behaviors, and processes that people experience in daily life and their routine considerations of politics and community. Examples include engaging in dialogue with political opponents and giving politicians license to compromise. Ordinary political moments like these constitute much of politics, and they can lay the foundation that shapes if, when, and how crisis moments unfold.

Paying particular attention to the role of ideology in shaping how Americans emulate daily democratic ideals, this book considers such questions as: How do liberals and conservatives support different aspects of democratic practice, and are there ideological asymmetries between the two groups? If and when asymmetries emerge, what factors might explain them? The authors consider what their findings mean for the health of American democracy broadly.