Naslov
The Political Consequences of Low Youth Participation in Contemporary Democracies

Autori
Širinić, Daniela

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Ocjenski radovi, doktorska disertacija

Fakultet
Central European University

Mjesto
Budimpešta, Mađarska

Datum
15.01

Godina
2016

Stranica
178

Mentor
Gabor Toka

Ključne riječi
Political inequalities, turnout, young adults

Sažetak
Previous studies on political participation have provided unambiguous evidence that citizen involvement in established democracies is unequal. Non-voters are found to be mainly the poor, those coming from minority groups, the less educated, and younger members of the electorate (Verba and Nie, 1972 ; Verba et al., 1978, 1995 ; Gallego, 2007). If the structure of active participants is systematically biased towards certain political groups, the allocation of power can also be biased. Unequal participation can lead to unequal influences. This dissertation provides an empirical test of this proposition and asks whether inequalities in political representation follow from inequalities in political participation? To answer this question I have focused on the group of citizens whose rates of participation are evidently unequal, but whose relationship to politics has not only spurred academic attention, but has also received a central spot on the political and media agendas in the majority of established democracies: young people. The study of the consequences of young people’s unequal participation in the decision-making process is a perfect litmus test of the status of political equality in contemporary democracies. The empirical analysis points to several important findings. In the light of the growing concern over young people’s politics, the most important finding of this dissertation is that age bias in turnout does not have negative consequences on the policy and interest representation of age groups. In fact, young people are on average closer to their representatives than adults, and the parties they support represent their views as much as the views of other age groups. In other words, young people’s disengagement from politics does not have immediate consequences for their political representation. I argue that it is possible that the effects of youth turnout bias on policy representation are not present, partly because unequal non- electoral participation works in favour of the policy representation of the young and partly because parties try to respond to inequalities in turnout by increasing their policy appeal to the young. However, while we should not be concerned about young people’s policy representation, their interest representation is evidently unequal, and further studies are necessary to ascertain what kinds of factors create such inequalities in political outcomes.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Politologija

POVEZANOST RADA