Citizenship Education in South Africa's First Post-Apartheid Generation

We use an original 2012 survey of 2,518 11th grade students in metropolitan Cape Town to examine the views of South Africa’s first post-apartheid generation toward democracy and democratic citizenship, along with the factors that shape their attitudes. We build on previous research to assess the impact of South Africa's new Life Orientations civics school curriculum, and pursue answers for why young South Africans, being educated amidst the nation's new democratic system and free public education, are no more supportive of democratic governance than those from previous generations raised amidst apartheid. We look at the effectiveness of various aspects of the civics program, but also at the constraints of the ongoing social, economic and security problems that continue to plague, especially, South Africa's young, who continue to be open to authoritarian alternatives to democracy. We derive a number of significant lessons from the South African case, with important implications about the ability to teach the norms and responsibilities of democratic citizenship in the world's emerging democracies.