Assessing and Educating Moral-Democratic Competence

Research shows that democracy is ideal that many nations aspire to and that there is an effort by organizations to formalize it through laws and declarations that affirm its importance for social development. However, the reality is very different, with the constant presence in the media of violent conflicts, corruption, manipulation, and other criminal offenses. This gap between the idealized reality and the one experienced in everyday life is caused by the lack of moral-democratic competence in most people. This perception raises two important questions: First, how can we make moral-democratic competence visible so that we can research hypotheses about its nature and relevance to everyday decision-making? Second, what learning opportunities can and should we provide for young and old people so that their moral-democratic competences can grow and bear fruits? This chapter tries to answer these questions.