Government Initiatives to Strengthen Democracy and Civic Engagement in Germany

More than 200 individual measures are intended to strengthen the country’s democratic community in almost all areas of society: tolerance training in schools, prison projects, better help for victims of right-wing extremist violence and the integration of refugees. It is important to teach citizens how they can get involved in local politics and help shape it, explained Culture Minister Bettina Martin (SPD). Martin and the director of the State Center for Civic Education, Jochen Schmidt, once again criticized the federal government’s plans to cut political education. They are a fatal signal. In times of great change – the war in Ukraine, climate change and controversies at the federal level – democracy is under pressure.