The role of public administration in leadership and governance : a review of civics, citizenship and political education

Abstract

This article examines the ability of civic education as a concept to respond to governance imperatives in a modern state. Whether it is in democracies or non-democracies, governance imperatives require citizen electoral participation, government stability, and political order which determine in turn, the success and/or the performance of a government. It could be argued that the purpose of civic education is therefore to insure the continuity of a society. If this is the case, then civic education becomes relevant to governance imperatives when it creates an environment that is capable of allowing citizens to abide to the principles of truth, inquiry, critical thought which presumably transcend allegiance to any particular political-legal units.