The paper is aimed at defining the essence of civic education that shapes integrative qualities of a person. These qualities promote full personal self-actualization in juridical, ethical and political spheres. The state plays a decisive role in civic education both within a period of stability and the one of transformation. The paper points out that the opportunities of secondary schools exceed those ones of other agents of political socialization in solving problems of civic education. The author considers methods used by civic education , including students’ classroom and extra-curricular activities, as well as their participation in the work of youth organizations. The experiences of some democratic countries, which managed to change their citizens’ political culture within a period of modernization, are discussed. The author focuses on the German experience after the Second World War when the country was involved in building a new social and public system through a critical re-evaluation of the crimes of the National Socialist regime. The author has also studies the history of civic education the USA where various methods are used to develop civic identity and promote public integration on the basis of common values. It has been suggested that the purposes of civic education cannot be accomplished in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, since the purpose of civic education is to create social activism as the main value of a civil society.