Terrorism, Globalisation and Democracy: On reading Michael Peters post 9/11

It is indeed an honour to be invited to respond to Michael Peters' Macmillan Brown Lectures presented in New Zealand in April 2001. I want to structure my response by selecting three themes that Michael deals with, amplifying and expanding their significance in certain directions, to further illuminate their significance, and extend the analysis to embrace new issues and points that emerge from their consideration. Since Michael delivered his lectures, the world has changed in one important way, as marked by the events of 9/11 in America and of 12/10 in Bali. The possibility of acts of terror, whether committed by rogue states, or transnational groups, forces a new consideration of the themes of democracy, community and individual rights. And there must be also, I believe, a new understanding of what citizenship entails, and what the role of education is in relation to creating citizens.