In this study, we carry out an empirical comparative analysis of the relationship between a political institution and civic education. The study of education in political science has witnessed the emergence of various studies in recent years, particularly, those focusing on education spending and vocational education. Unfortunately, there remains a knowledge gap regarding how politics impact education for democracy, which is of crucial importance for future democracies.

The DPI (Database of Political Institutions) 2017 & ICCS (International Civic and Citizenship Study of Education) 2016 datasets were used for the comparative analysis. Past studies have adequately brought out the importance of class climate in civic education. For instance, mutual respect between classmates and the openness to engage in discussions with differing views can increase students’ political participation in the future. While previous studies have focused on how the levels of the school, teacher, and individual factors have affected classroom climate, the effects of political factors are yet to be investigated. We analyze the relationship between political institutions/partisan politics and class climate by using data from about 20 countries.

The findings of this study suggest that governments with greater concentrated power are more likely to offer a restrained classroom climate. Furthermore, classroom climate, considered most important for civic education, is impacted not only at the levels of the school and teacher but also at the levels of the political system and partisan politics.