Tag: Young People
Extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds would deepen and strengthen British democracy
Reducing the age of enfranchisement from 18 to 16 would not just ensure that young people’s views were listened to, it would also take advantage of the growing political awareness of this age group, as evidenced by the Scottish Independence referendum campaign, evidence from overseas, and some research from the UK, according to Vittorio Trevitt. Similar PostsThe […]
The task for those who care about democracy is to translate the new ways of political engagement into effective action
Over recent weeks, Democratic Audit has been looking at ways to re-engage young people with politics for our ‘Beyond the Youth Citizenship Commission’ in collaboration with Huddersfield University’s Dr Andy Mycock. In the latest instalment of this series, Chloe Smith MP argues that though the internet cannot replace politics, it can be a useful supplement, with online-based youth […]
Young people support the democratic process, but do not feel that they can exercise real influence over decision-making
As part of our series on youth participation, in this post Matt Henn and Nick Foard share findings from survey research into young people’s views of politics. They show that young people are supportive of the democratic process and want to participate in. However, the experience of elections is frustrating, with politicians seen as remote and self-serving. They […]
Citizenship education should give young people the skills and knowledge to participate in political debate on social media
Young people engage increasingly interact on social media, including engaging in political debate. Mark Shephard, Stephen Quinlan, Stephen Tagg and Lindsay Paterson have studied this form of discussion, and believe it offers potential to increase political literacy and engagement. However, there are important lessons that need to be learned by users of social media platforms, including about the […]
Political parties need to better integrate young members and give them the chance to influence policy
Most major political parties have youth wings, run by their young members. But with party membership declining, Emily Rainsford has considered how parties might better engage their young members and recruit others. In this post, part of our new series on youth participation, she argues for more integration of young party members into decision-making structures. Similar PostsYoung […]
Young ethnic minority people are citizens to be engaged in politics, not a problem group
As part of our series on youth participation, in this post Therese O’Toole considers how young people from ethnic minorities engage in politics. She argues that this group is not more likely to be disaffected from politics, only from mainstream forms of politics, and tend to engage in more ‘DIY’ forms of activism. Traditional institutions need to respond to […]
Young women face gender-specific challenges that limit their political participation
Young women aged 18-24 are likely less to take part in elections than their male counterparts. As part of our new series on youth participation, Jacqui Briggs explores the reasons for this, showing how women face specific barriers because of their gender and are under-represented throughout the system. She argues that politicians need to address […]
David Blunkett: Introducing Citizenship education was the easy bit. We need to do more to encourage schools to support youth participation
The previous Labour government added Citizenship to the National Curriculum in England in 2002. Last week on Democrat Audit David Kerr discussed how its prominence has fallen in more recent and called for more robust monitoring of provision. In this post David Blunkett MP, Education Secretary under Labour, discusses the importance of Citizenship and how its […]
We need renewed political commitment to citizenship education and ongoing monitoring of its provision in schools
Citizenship was added to the National Curriculum in England twelve years ago. As part of our series on youth participation in politics, David Kerr discusses how citizenship has fallen in prominence in recent years as schools have faced other pressures and teaching requirements have been relaxed. He argues for ongoing monitoring of the provision of citizenship education. Similar […]
Electoral turnout for young people peaks immediately after their enfranchisement, then falls sharply
It is established that young people tend to vote less than older generations, particularly in Britain. However, less well understood are the differences in turnout among young people. Based on elections in Finland and Denmark, Yosef Bhatti, Kasper M Hansen, and Hanna Wass have shown that turnout is highest when young people can vote immediately after being […]
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