Investigating the "National Cohesion" in Western Political Education (Case Study: Conservative and Liberal-Democratic Approaches)

"National cohesion" is essential for protection of any country and is an important part of the political education of the new generation. Analyzing political education approaches in the world can strengthen our awareness and consciousness of the different dimensions of such programs and their outcomes. In the present study, the way of discussion about "national cohesion" in two important Western approaches to political education, namely the conservative approach and the liberal-democratic approach, has been studied. First, the position of “national cohesion” among the "goals" of political education in the two approaches was compared, and then the way of pursuing this goal in other components of the educational program, including: educational content, teaching and educating methods, and evaluation methods, was examined. The results of the research showed that for the conservative system the development of national identity and social cohesion is the most important concern and it pursues this goal in a more coherent manner through transferring the common knowledge, teaching a common language, eradicating subcultures, etc.; but ultimately, it imposes severe restrictions on the whole developing of the individual and society. The liberal-democratic political education system, although is well aware of the necessity of national cohesion, loyalty, and patriotism; however, because of fundamental reasons (its reliance on individualism, autonomy, and individual freedom), in practice, it struggles with the difficulty of combining these conflicting values, and the students' confusion in this approach is a serious problem. Therefore, both Western political education approaches face serious problems and challenges.