This content is inspired by The Youth Political Participation Literature and Policy review 1980-2023 – Epoch I Setting the Scene– as outlined in the Youth Democracy Cohort’s scoping study on youth political participation. The study presents a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of youth-related policies and practices from 1980 to 2023. It is based on a literature and policy review, examining youth involvement in political affairs, electoral participation, and civil society engagement within democratic contexts. The findings are framed within four distinct epochs, offering insights for policymakers and programme designers aiming to foster youth-inclusive democratic practices. While the content draws on these findings, it does not represent a verbatim excerpt or official position of the Youth Democracy Cohort.
This epoch is characterised by exploring children, minors, and youth as a specific group that should be of attention to policymakers. This has to do with the general trends of widening suffrage, exercising inclusion as one of the core democratic values, and protecting the rights of minorities and sub-groups of given populations.
Global Trends and Context
It is apparent that these trends are inherently linked to democratic countries at a certain level of development, i.e. mostly to the countries of the Global North, but manifested globally as well (e.g. via the UN). The exploration of youth and children as specific groups is completed ad-hoc and connects to various topics such as youth work, education, and democratic participation. These topics will be considered core youth policymaking domains until the beginning of Epoch IV when mainstreaming and cross-sectoral approaches truly gain momentum.
Defining Youth Rights
Young people and children are first defined by elaborating on their rights in concrete contexts (e.g. the UN, EU, etc.). At the UN level, this is typified by:
- The creation of the first-ever International Youth Year, devoted to the topic of young people, including youth participation.
- The landmark adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including Article 12 and the right to be heard, which established a foundational rights-based definition of child and youth participation.
A Rights-Based Narrative
The Convention went on to become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Child and youth political participation is therefore frequently explored in this rights-based narrative:
- Children and youth have the right to engage in a narrow set of matters directly concerning them.
- Policies should ideally support children and youth in utilising traditional mechanisms of representative democracy, such as voting and running for office.
The ultimate aim is social cohesion and social peace, achieved by including young people in political participation processes.
Policy Inclusion
In this context, it can also be observed that children, minors, and youth are frequently covered by more general documents which aim at the inclusion of various groups into political and democratic processes (e.g. women, minorities, people with disabilities, etc.). The term “children” is more frequently mentioned than “youth” or “young people”, showcasing the narrow definitions used in this initial epoch. This also reflects a broader trend in youth policymaking: the widening definition of “youth.”
Milestones in International Youth Policy
Key developments during this epoch include:
- The adoption of the UN World Programme of Action for Youth, marking the first policy framework at the international level aimed at supporting youth development and participation.
- The establishment of international policy gatherings, such as the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, which demonstrated an acceleration of focus on youth policies at the national level, supported by an international youth policy agenda.
The main policy developments in the area of youth participation include:
- The identification of children, minors, and youth as target groups of rights and policies.
- The framing of youth political participation as a domain of general policymaking in the context of inclusion efforts.
Foundational Concepts for Future Epochs
Generally speaking, the main building blocks of upcoming political debates within future epochs are established:
- Key terms are coined.
- Youth starts to emerge as a wider category than children, with specific attributes that need further exploration. For example, youth combines minors and young adults, two groups with very different legal and rights-based implications in terms of care, protection, and participation in democratic mechanisms, such as age-based voting rights.
Influential Policy Documents
The key policy document that is still highly influential today and used as the basic reference across the board is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).
Within this epoch, there are relatively few significant policy developments specific to or primarily developed for Global South countries. Those which do exist are limited in content and tend to simply identify the need to promote youth participation within the context of development.
