ABSTRACT
Young people are no longer interested in politics, it is argued. They are seen as disinterested, as not following politics, as not seeing the point of voting. Electoral and party politics have become seen as irrelevant; a cosmetic contest between politicians and their spin doctors in which there are few meaningful differences between the candidates. Whereas in the past, the young have been moved by great issues – civil rights, poverty in the developing world, nuclear disarmament, women’s rights, peace – today’s young have a narrower and more individualised focus – concerned with career opportunities, consumption identity and style and value for money. Clearly, though, it is more complicated. There has been an apparent decline in involvement in electoral politics in many Western countries, as measured by turnout; but in the last 30 years, large popular movements demanding greater democracy have emerged and become powerful. Solidarity in Poland, popular movements in Hungary, the German Democratic Republic and other eastern communist states, contributed to the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence. De-investment in South Africa, prompted by public pressure, helped bring about the end of the apartheid system. A process, admittedly uneven, driven by popular enthusiasm, of redemocratisation in Latin America, has instigated a transition from the era dominated by military dictatorships. In Islamic countries as different as Iran and Algeria fundamentalism has been challenged by a more reformist and democratically oriented sensibility. In all these instances, young people have been active and to the fore.
