Political education in the Federal Republic of Germany: a comparative historical analysis of political lessons in German lower-secondary education, 1945-2019

Thesis

This thesis explores the institutional development of political education policy in the Federal Republic of Germany between 1945-2019.

Following Roberts’ (2002) analysis of political education in lower-secondary schools across the Federal Republic of Germany, the institutional arrangement was recreated by the Allied forces at the end of World War II, and further changed based on education trends such as the “1968 movement” at the 1960’s, and an international comparative stage at the late 1990’s.

Conflicting accounts appear in the literature about the contribution of the Allied forces (Hahn, 1998; Robinsohn and Kulmann, 1967), however new data on the individual efforts of the American, British and French forces during the occupation period (Gehrz, 2002) serve as a basis to evaluate these accounts through a comparative historical analysis across member states.

Using an actor-centred functionalist account of historical institutionalism literature, three hypotheses are considered

(1) the institutional arrangement persisted until present days (path dependence, Capoccia, 2015);

(2) the institutional arrangement was changed based on political affiliation modifications to the institutional coalition (gradual institutional change, Mahoney and Thelen, 2010);

(3) the institutional arrangement was changed based on normative modifications to the institutional coalition (ideational institutional change, Blyth, 2002).

Tracing the curricular development of political lessons during the occupation period and the policy changes until present days, this thesis finds that the political education policy created by the Western allies persisted until the end of the 1960’s, and further developed due to an ideational institutional change.

The “1968 movement” at the late 1960’s and 1970’s, and the international comparative stage at the late 1990’s were central to the curricular development.

Authors: Melman, L

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-6qnze5yjd
• Type of award: MPhil
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: secondary education; comparative historical analysis; denazification; historical institutionalism; West Germany; curricular development; civic education; democratization
• Subjects: Education--Political aspects--Germany--History--20th century; Education--Curricula--Germany (West); Education--Political aspects--Great Britain; Curriculum planning; Denazification; Education and state; Education--Political aspects--Germany (West); Education; Education--Political aspects; Education--Political aspects--France; Education, Secondary; Democratization; Education--Political aspects--United States