UNESCO as an organizational carrier of civics education information

This paper analyzes UNESCO as an institutional carrier of civics education information throughout the world. The first section of the paper presents a brief history of civics education in UNESCO, illustrating the central role of UNESCO in civics education development. The second section presents findings from a cross-national analysis of UNESCO's effect on civics education material from 1955 to 1995 in 42 countries. Findings from this analysis indicate that UNESCO significantly influenced the extent to which these countries emphasize global civics content in their educational material. Results also suggest that wealthier countries in the analysis are more likely to emphasize civics content that is global in orientation. In addition, it appears that among these wealthier countries, Western European countries are less likely to emphasize global civics content. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.