This chapter discusses the parameters of civic education and the citizenship education curriculum, focusing on the social studies or social sciences school subjects. The themes addressed are the interplay of domestic and international input in the development of national and school specific curricula in citizenship studies; the production of learning materials, the design of national exams, and the traditions of implementing the formal curriculum; the dilemma between socialisation and subjectification as aims of civic education, discussed in the context of the Nordic countries where teachers and principals give a high priority to developing students' generic civic skills in critical thinking rather than preparing students for political engagement. Given that civic education is also an ethical endeavour, it is suggested here that the ethical and moral dimensions should be more visible in the curriculum documents where the perspectives and concepts of social studies teaching and learning are described.