ABSTRACT
The political landscape around the Mediterranean has been marked over the last decade by the increased visibility of youth-based social movements, challenging notions of modern youth’s political passivity. This upsurge in activism reflects a set of shared and inter-linked experiences at a point in time when the problematic implications of neo-liberal orthodoxy on the distribution of wealth and prospects between generations have been foregrounded by profound economic crises and an era of austerity. Political institutions, whether democratic or authoritarian, have proved similarly unable to accommodate the growing frustration of youth, exacerbating mistrust and indicating a convergence of exclusionary political formats. The resulting increased mobilization has seen youth engaging in the politics of resistance and dissidence but they have yet to make inroads into formal institutions and structures of power.
