Table Of ContentYouth Participation in Democratic Life
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Youth Participation in
Democratic Life
Stories of Hope and Disillusion
Bart Cammaerts, Michael Bruter, Shakuntala Banaji,
Sarah Harrison and Nick Anstead
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
© Bart Cammaerts, Michael Bruter, Shakuntala Banaji, Sarah Harrison,
Nick Anstead 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-54020-1
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First published 2016 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-58140-5 ISBN 978-1-137-54021-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137540218
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Contents
List of Tables vi
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgements x
1 Introduction: The Challenge of Youth Participation 1
2 Youth Participation: Theoretical Positioning and
Methodology 17
3 Participation of Youth in Elections: Beyond Youth Apathy 49
4 Youth Participation in European Policymaking:
Representation and Limits to Participation 83
5 Youth Participation Beyond Voting: Volunteering and
Contestation 105
6 Participation of Youth In and Through Media:
Traditional and New Media 133
7 Youth Participation and Exclusion: Towards Equal
Treatment in Public Space, Education and the Workplace 167
8 Concluding Thoughts and Tribulations 197
Notes 215
References 217
Index 233
List of Tables
2.1 The sample 33
2.2 Experiment invited participants by country and
percentage completing questionnaire 36
2.3 Stakeholder interviewees per country 43
3.1 Perceptions of democracy for under and over
18 years old young citizens (in %) 55
3.2 The memory of elections (in %) 60
3.3 Why young people vote in the first election when they
are eligible to (in %) 62
3.4 Why young people fail to go to vote in the first election
when they are eligible to (in %) 62
3.5 How young people feel when they do (or do not) go to
vote (in %) 64
3.6 Evaluation of possible youth participation boosters – under
18 (N = 2721) 72
3.7 Evaluation of possible youth participation boosters – 18–30
(N = 4480) 73
3.8 Actual turnout by campaign type (in %) 77
3.9 Likeliness to hesitate on whom to vote for (in %) 78
5.1 Modes of participation experienced at least once by young
citizens (in %) 109
5.2 Ranking of modes of participation in terms of efficiency,
democratic quality and preference (N = 7,201) (in %) 111
5.3 Percentage of 15- to 30-year-olds participating in civic and
political organisations (N = 12,927) 112
5.4 Modes of participation in which respondents expect to
participate in the future (in %) 113
vi
List of Tables vii
5.5 Percentage of youth engaged with volunteering or
donations (in %) 117
5.6 Top five forms of active non-electoral political participation
(i.e. excluding voting in political elections, discussing
politics and keeping up with current affairs) reported in
the seven countries studied 119
5.7 Types of involvement of young people across the
focus groups 121
6.1 Children’s digital literacy and safety skills (in %) 152
6.2 Internet activities as a percentage of individuals who used
the internet in the past three months by age group (in %) 153
6.3 Social media use in 7 EU countries (aggregated N = 7,201)
(in %) 155
6.4 Actual turnout by campaign type (N = 625) (in %) 161
6.5 Campaign perceptions 161
6.6 Perceptions of candidates 162
7.1 Percentage of young people aged between 18 and 24 not
in employment and not in any education or training 175
7.2 Focus group comparison by category and country of
political issues which most concern young people 180
7.3 Relationship between forms of participation and
family income 190
List of Figures
3.1 Differential turnout between young people and
other citizens 50
3.2 Differences in levels of interest in politics, efficacy and
perceived responsibilities of political cynicism between
pre-voting and post-voting young citizens 56
3.3 Effect of early memory of parents taking young people to
the polling station on future likeliness to vote 61
3.4 Emotions associated with voting, debating on Facebook
and demonstrating 64
3.5 Emotions associated with traditional and electronic
voting experiences 78
3.6 Percentage preferred voting mode by actual vote
(voters/non-voters) 79
3.7 Percentage preferred voting mode by experimental vote
organisation (polling station/e-vote) 80
5.1 Perceived effectiveness of confrontational and
non-confrontational modes of participation before and
after reaching voting age 110
5.2 Evolution of four key forms of political involvement
by age group 115
5.3 Engagement in voluntary activities of 15- to 30-year-olds 117
6.1 Percentage of citizens never following politics through
the media 138
6.2 Reading or downloading online newspapers 139
6.3 Degree of distrust of the press in the EU 140
6.4 Internet access in the last three months 149
6.5 Percentage difference in access to the internet of poor
young people compared to all young people of the same
age category 150
viii
List of Figures ix
6.6 Posting messages to social media sites or
instant messaging 154
6.7 Groups that young people spoke to about the election 163
7.1 Youth unemployment in Europe 179
7.2 Percentage of young people aged between 16 and
24 at risk of poverty 181
7.3 Percentage of young people aged between 18 and
24 at risk of poverty and in employment 181
7.4 Percentage difference aged between 18 and 24 and
between 25 and 54 at risk of poverty and in employment 182
7.5 Percentage of early school leavers across Europe 185
