ABSTRACT
There has been much debate about the so-called decline in youth civic and political engagement (Putnam 2000; Norris 2002 and 2003; Furlong and Cartmel 2007; Wattenberg 2007; Dalton 2009). Some have seen this as a crisis in citizenship (Macedo et al. 2005). Others have viewed it as a crisis in the political system (Stoker 2006; Hay 2007). Youth voter turnout (and turnout in general) has been falling in most established industrial democracies for several decades (Franklin 2004). And, the membership of mainstream political parties has collapsed (Van Biezen et al. 2012), as older members are simply not being replaced. However, the situation is much more dramatic in some countries than in others. European Social Survey (ESS) data1 shows that around three-quarters of (eligible) 18 to 24 year olds voted in national elections in Sweden and Denmark compared to just over one-third in the UK and Ireland. Yet even the much-vaunted Scandinavian democracies have experienced a downward trend in electoral participation, as well as a movement away from mainstream political parties towards fringe parties and movements. Younger voters have increasingly turned to parties that focus on issues (such as the various Green parties across Europe), populist parties that rail against the existing political and economic elites (including, the Five-Star Movement in Italy and Podemos in Spain),2 as well as extremist nationalist parties (such as Golden Dawn in Greece). As Pippa Norris (2002 and 2003), Russell Dalton (2009) and others have shown us, young people are not politically apathetic. In her seminal work, Democratic Phoenix, Norris (2002) shows how young people’s repertoires of participation have changed – they vote less, but participate in many alternative forms of civic and political engagement. They have turned away from traditional agencies of political participation – such as political parties and trade unions – towards non-governmental organisations with a clear focus e.g. Greenpeace, Amnesty International. Young people have their own political views and express themselves through issue-based engagement in political causes that have meaning for their everyday lives (Marsh et al. 2007; Amnå and Ekman 2013). In recent years, we have witnessed the diversification of citizen politics into a kaleidoscope of political action – from the ballot box, to the supermarket, to the street, to the Internet and new social media (Bennett and Segerberg 2013). Young people are at the vanguard of this change.
