Why Is the Attempt to Promote Youth Engagement a Major International Issue

In this chapter, we provide an international overview of some of the issues that are important in the consideration of citizenship and community and forms of education that are intended to help young people and others understand and become more engaged in contemporary society. This chapter is deliberately international and global in its outlook and provides a wide-angled lens on developments about citizenship and community before we explore in detail, in Chapters 2–6, the specific research and development project that took place within England, and prior to broadening our focus back to overarching themes in Chapter 7. It is probably sensible for us to re-state the note of caution that we offered at the beginning of the book. We are not suggesting that in this chapter and towards the end of the book we would include all the themes and perspectives that are significant in all parts of the world. Derek Heater was right to emphasise the scale of the task when he declared: What is needed, though it would be a formidable undertaking, is a comparable study of world citizenship education.