What is Democracy Web?
Democracy Web, a project of the Albert Shanker Institute, is a comprehensive on-line resource for the comparative study of democracy. It is composed of a 12-unit Study Guide and an interactive world map. Both are based on Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World survey, which is among the most respected surveys of its kind.
Through its comparative studies format, Democracy Web challenges students to think critically about the foundations of democracy, the development of democracy over time and the reasons for its ebb and flow in different eras and within different countries. As importantly, students are challenged to think critically about the history and practice of democracy in the United States and the challenges it faces today.
The twelve units of Democracy Web's Study Guide correspond to the twelve measures of political rights and civil liberties ─ the essential principles of democracy ─ that the Freedom in the World survey has measured since 1973. An Introduction by historian and Shanker Institute Board Member Danielle Allen offers a basic historical and conceptual context for exploring democracy’s basic architecture.
Each Study Guide unit includes an overview of the Essential Principles and History of one of the twelve measures, including a focus on their development and practice in the United States. The units then provide a framework for comparative study on the state of political rights and civil liberties in the world through its Country Studies, one each section for a “Free,” “Partially Free” and “Not Free” country ─ the three categories in Freedom House’s annual survey. (There is also a Country Study of the United States in the last unit, Freedom of Religion.) Study Questions and Activities offer suggested classroom discussion and student assignments for each section of the Study Guide. A Resources section with links for news sources and background information encourages further research and examination of the essential principle and the countries in each unit.
Designed for upper secondary- and lower college-level students, Democracy Web has also been used at lower secondary and upper middle school levels and by civic, human rights and democracy activists around the world. The site has had had millions of users worldwide since it was launched in 2009. It is now being re-launched on a new and more usable platform with updated content to reflect developments since then and the challenges that democracy faces in the United States and worldwide
Why Democracy Web?
Democracy Web emerged from the longstanding effort of the Albert Shanker Institute (ASI) and its founding organization, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), to foster education for democracy in America’s schools and worldwide.
In 1987, the AFT released Education for Democracy: A Statement of Principles, signed by a large, bi-partisan group of prominent Americans. It stated:
[W]e believe that the great central drama of modern history has been and continues to be the struggle to establish, preserve and extend democracy.
Education for Democracy was written at a time of worldwide expansion of democracy and human rights. Today, we live through another historical shift. In 2024, Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World survey recorded its 18th straight year of decline in its scores and rankings. This worldwide decline, including in established democracies, makes the Statement’s call for the study of democracy as a central theme of student learning even more urgent.
The Statement of Principles argued that the struggles to achieve, preserve and expand democracy should be a major theme in teaching American and world history and related subjects of social studies and civics. Only then, it asserted, could schools "purposely impart to students the learning necessary for an informed, reasoned allegiance to the ideals of a free society.”
There has been a large effort to improve education over the last decades. Yet, in the teaching of American and world history, social studies and civics, the story of democracy often gets lost. The established curricula in these subject areas still too frequently focus on litanies of historical facts and processes instead of on the fundamental ideas and practices of democracy.
Democracy Web was developed to address that shortfall. It offers an extracurricular resource for teachers, students and civic activists dedicated to enhancing students’ knowledge and understanding of democracy and its practice around the world. A central premise of Democracy Web is that one of the best means for teaching “the great central drama of modern history” is through comparative studies — learning where democracy has been practiced and where it has not been; where it is advancing and where it is under threat; where it has fallen short and where individuals and political movements around the world have risked everything to achieve democracy’s promise of equality for all citizens. And still do so.
The Albert Shanker Institute knows that educators across the country welcome additional resources for their teaching of history and civics to meet the challenges of preparing their students to be responsible and active citizens. This is especially important given the state of democracy in the world and in our own country. Young people themselves are aware of general trends in both. They seek greater knowledge to meet the challenges they and future generations face. We hope Democracy Web proves useful to teachers, students and civic activists for these purposes.
As AFT president Randi Weingarten wrote in a column about the state of American politics, “In a very real sense, American democracy is being tested.” As it is worldwide. To meet that test, she continued, “We need an informed, engaged citizenry that is deeply involved in civic life.”
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The Albert Shanker Institute (ASI) received original funding and support to develop Democracy Web from the National Endowment for Humanities and Freedom House. This update is funded by ASI. Democracy Web’s contents do not necessarily represent the views of the members of ASI’s Board of Directors.
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