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Tag: Youth participation

  • Influence of digitalization on political participation among young adults in contemporary Europe.

    Influence of digitalization on political participation among young adults in contemporary Europe.

    How does digitalization reshape the nature and depth of youth political participation across contemporary Europe? Wara (2026) conducts a systematic qualitative meta-synthesis grounded in mobilization theory to evaluate how digital communication platforms, e-governance, and e-democracy tools have redefined civic activism among young adults. Synthesizing evidence from 30 peer-reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2025 indexed in Web of Science and related repositories, the study investigates how technological shifts lower participation barriers while simultaneously introducing new structural tensions to democratic engagement.

    The findings demonstrate that digitalization has decentralized civic life by opening accessible, non-hierarchical arenas for political expression and collective action beyond traditional party and state apparatuses. Digital platforms enable rapid, horizontal organizing and transnational mobilization, as demonstrated by youth-driven movements such as Fridays for Future. However, this transformative potential is constrained by severe counterweights. Persistent digital divides, unequal access to digital infrastructure, and disparities in technological literacy continue to hinder equitable participation across different regions of Europe. Furthermore, the ecosystem of digital politics is complicated by cybersecurity vulnerabilities, pervasive online misinformation, and the risk of slacktivism, which can reduce active political commitment to superficial digital gestures and fuel ideological polarization.

    The study concludes that realizing the participatory benefits of digital politics requires structural intervention rather than passive reliance on technological diffusion. Sustainable digital democracy demands coordinated, cross-sectoral collaboration among governments, civil society, and educational institutions. These stakeholders must work in concert to advance digital equity, embed comprehensive critical media literacy into youth education, and construct inclusive, accountable digital governance architectures capable of mitigating polarization while safeguarding democratic participation in the digital era.

    Learn more about this article here:

    Wara, Y. A. (2026). Influence of digitalization on political participation among young adults in contemporary Europe. Open Research Europe, 5, 360. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.21521.2

  • Political Participation of Marginalized Young People: Examining Funding Programs from a European and National Perspective

    Political Participation of Marginalized Young People: Examining Funding Programs from a European and National Perspective

    How can public funding schemes bridge the gap between high-level policy agendas and grassroots practice to mobilize marginalized youth? Wielath et al. (2025) investigate the role of funding programs as meso-level infrastructures that mediate between macro-level political strategies and micro-level local implementation, assessing how these mechanisms can be designed to empower young people who are rarely engaged in political processes.

    Drawing on desk research and two expert focus groups conducted at both national and European levels, the study examines youth-focused funding architectures across four analytical dimensions: conceptual frameworks, cross-sectoral positioning, the inherent logic of administrative structures, and responsiveness to the lived realities of youth and community practitioners. The authors demonstrate that funding programs cannot be evaluated at the program level in isolation. Instead, they act as critical levers and mediators connecting systemic political goals with the everyday practices of youth workers and marginalized participants.

    The analysis reveals that successfully engaging underrepresented youth requires moving past deficit-oriented narratives that treat marginalized groups as passive recipients. Programmatic success relies on embedding robust bottom-up feedback loops, easing administrative rigidity to accommodate non-traditional civic actors, and investing in durable local infrastructures rather than short-term project cycles. The authors conclude that youth participation policies must transition toward long-term, context-sensitive, and coordinated funding frameworks that directly align structural resources with the practical needs of young citizens on the ground.

    Learn more about this article here:

    Wielath, S., Pelzer, M., Hofmann-van De Poll, F., & Rottach, A. (2025). Political Participation of Marginalized Young People: Examining Funding Programs from a European and National Perspective. Youth, 5(4), 108. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth5040108

  • Institutionalisation Of Youth Political Participation In The Eu: A Neoliberal Attempt To Castrate The Political Engagement Of Young People Outside The Ballot Box

    Institutionalisation Of Youth Political Participation In The Eu: A Neoliberal Attempt To Castrate The Political Engagement Of Young People Outside The Ballot Box

    How do institutional participatory frameworks within the European Union govern, absorb, and constrain extra-parliamentary youth activism? Pušnik (2024) critically examines the institutionalization of youth civic engagement at both the supranational level of the European Union and the national level in Slovenia, interrogating whether official participatory structures empower young people or neutralize disruptive democratic critique. Grounded in a Foucauldian analytics of government (governmentality), the study traces the emergence of institutional youth engagement back to the European student mobilizations of 1968, arguing that modern participatory frameworks were historically designed to govern dissident energy and align youth action with state and supranational priorities.

    Focusing on contemporary consultative instruments, specifically the EU Youth Dialogue and the Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth, the author demonstrates that institutional mechanisms systematically privilege conventional representative practices—most notably electoral turnout and formalized consultation—while disregarding or delegitimizing autonomous, extra-parliamentary, and contentious political action. Concurrently, the study reveals how neoliberal rationality operates within these architectures to depoliticize structural inequalities by shifting the burden of democratic engagement entirely onto individuals. Rather than redistributing decision-making power, these mechanisms cultivate an idealized identity of the active economic citizen who participates only within strictly prescribed, non-disruptive parameters. The author concludes that institutionalized youth participation largely functions as a disciplinary technology that pacifies radical civic impulses outside the ballot box rather than fostering expansive democratic agency.

    Learn more about this article here:

    Pušnik, T. (2024). INSTITUTIONALISATION OF YOUTH POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN THE EU: A NEOLIBERAL ATTEMPT TO CASTRATE THE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE BALLOT BOX. Teorija in praksa, 341–362. https://doi.org/10.51936/tip.61.2.341