Critical education for democracy under discourses of authoritarianism and nationalism

The rise of authoritarianism and exclusionary nationalism has shown a critical need to teach students how to build, maintain and participate in democratic communities. This requires students to understand how authoritarianism and nationalism exclude people and perspectives in communities. While inclusionary nationalism can create an identity that unites people, we focus upon the divisive form of nationalism that is exclusionary. This article first describes the context for critical education for democracy in the face of authoritarianism and nationalism. We follow with a conceptual analysis of critical education for democracy. This involves the ways that students can identify antidemocratic discourses in order to promote democratic discourses. The model that we present relies upon student discourse analysis and elements of greeting, rhetoric and narrative for increasing inclusion in democratic communities. We conclude with illustrations of classroom inquiries, discussions and deliberations that can build student understanding of authoritarianism, nationalism and democracy.