The essays in this collection, rewritten and expanded especially for this volume, originated as papers that were presented at a 1993 conference on Education for Democracy sponsored by the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University. The contributors from the United States, South Africa, Germany, and Russia, are experts in civic education, problems of minorities, the U.S. Constitution, the transition to democracy in former communist countries, and education and democracy in South Africa and Japan. All of the essays are concerned with aspects of the ideal of democracy: what it is, how it evolves, and the goals of democracy yet to be achieved. It is implied in each essay that democracy has a concrete definition with a range of features, and that despite the imprimatur of "democracy" applied by a government, not all governments claiming to be democracies are true and genuine democracies. Moreover, there is a distinct difference between education for democracy and democracy education. After an introduction, the book is divided into three parts: "Part I: The New Demography" contains four essays that look at pluralism, diversity, multiculturalism, and the democratic education of disadvantaged children. The two essays in "Part II: Constitutional Imperatives" are about constitutionalism in education for democracy and the power of comparison in teaching about democracy. "Part III: Other Societies, Other Problems" contains four essays discussing education for democracy in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Japan, Asia, and South Africa. Many of the chapters contain reference lists. "About the Authors" concludes the text. (LAP)