Historian, jurist, diplomat, and member of Parliament, James Bryce (1838-1922) lived one of those remarkably full and fruitful nineteenth-century public lives that remain a wonder today. He served as ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913 and was one of the most knowledgeable, perceptive, and sympathetic interpreters of American civilization since Tocqueville. Bryce's writings reveal a constant and deep concern with the nature and maintenance of democracy. Hindrances to Good Citizenship, first presented as a series of lectures at Yale in 1908, addresses the special problems of civic duty in a democracy. It is an outstanding example of classic liberal thought. A society's standard of civic duty, according to Bryce, depends on a reasonable balance between the principles of obedience and independence, the submission of the individual will to other wills and the assertion of that will against other wills. He defines three essential elements in public life that may potentially upset that balance and foster bad citizenship: indolence, selfish personal interest, and party spirit. Of these he deems indolence to be the most widespread, selfish personal interest to the most pernicious, and party spirit to be the most excusable, but also the most subtle and most likely to affect those classes from which most leaders are drawn. After exploring a wide range of specific political and social contexts and expressions of these obstacles to good citizenship, Bryce conclude by offering his thoughts on what can be done to remove them by improving the practical functioning of government and increasing civic spirit of the people. Although he was writing at the turn of the century, Bryce speaks to us as if a contemporary and has much to offer as we approach the century's end. Hindrances to Good Citizenship will interest those concerned with normative theory-whether attached to political science, sociology, or American studies.

First published in 1909. Historian, jurist, diplomat, and member of Parliament, James Bryce (1838-1922) lived one of those remarkably full and fruitful nineteenth-century public lives that remain a wonder today. He served as ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913 and was one of the most knowledgeable, perceptive, and sympathetic interpreters of American civilization. This is a collection of his Yale lectures.

A comparative study of how citizens define their civic duty in response to current threats to advanced democracies.

Drawing on contemporary global events, this book highlights how global citizenship education can be used to critically educate about the complexity and repressive nature of global events and our collective role in creating a just world.

"What kind of citizen is no ordinary education book. By drawing on accessible and engaging discussions around the goals of schooling, it is imminently readable by a broad public. Neither fluff nor polemic, the theory and practice described in the book are based in solid empirical research and come out of the most influential frameworks for citizenship and democratic education of the last several decades (the "Three Kinds of Citizens" framework that emerged from collaboration between the author and Dr. Joseph Kahne as well as consultations with thousands of school teachers and civic leaders.) - This framework has been used in 67 countries to help teachers and school reformers think about how to structure educational programs and how schools can strengthen democratic societies. - This book pulls together a decade of research on schools into one place giving the reader a comprehensive look at why schools should be at the forefront of public engagement and how we can make that happen"--