2.31 In many parts of our country, politics and people's wants and expectations as citizens are themselves also in flux, as political cultures are subject to challenge, renewal and change. Constitutional developments, including devolution and greater regional activity, and new forms of participation in politics (through single issue campaigns, voluntary activity and community development) form another set of challenges, for which lifelong learning should offer both resources and opportunities.
2.32 In line with many of the other changes we have briefly charted, these developments are often expressed in new aspirations and shifts in personal identity and orientation. Old ways and established practices are abandoned, or fall into disuse, and are renewed or replaced by new varieties of outlook and expectation. Customary values are challenged, modified and adapted to modern circumstances.
2.33 In forging these new standards, and providing appropriate links to existing ones, lifelong learning has a clear role to play. Through learning, competing values can be reviewed, their relevance for society today and tomorrow can be assessed, and newly emerging values can be transmitted.
2.34 These are all features of the creation of contemporary citizenship in our country and the enrichment of contemporary 'civil society'. Such a citizenship involves a greater emphasis on self-activity, initiative and pluralism, and is pursued in a variety of spheres and forms, through many different sorts of agency and process. Through an educated and learning public, modern conceptions of the rights and responsibilities of citizens can be forged, and their relationships articulated with each other, with the principal social institutions and with the state. In facing this challenge, lifelong learning, with its opportunities for critical reflection and creative initiative, can strengthen democracy and community development, enlarging the place of individuals and groups in them both.
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