What does it mean to be young in an ageing parliament?

In this project, we will focus on roles youth play in contemporary national parliaments. The theoretical starting point is that in the 21st century there is growing political youth apathy characterized by declining political sophistication of the young, their lack of (conventional) political participation, and their lack of representation in political office. Young citizens are less and less interested in conventional politics and participate less and less in the political process. This increasing political apathy renders the voice of young adults less important because parties and candidates gain relatively little from catering to the interests of a group, which largely refrains from voting. Since youths tend to abstain from voting more strongly than the middle-aged or elderly, there is less of an incentive for parties nominate younger candidates. That is why in most countries, the political elite is mainly composed of rather wealthy and educated middle-aged to senior men of the dominant ethnicity. National parliaments and cabinets are arenas that fit this description: in national parliaments across the globe, youth are roughly represented at a ratio of 1 to 3. In this project, we take a fresh perspective on this aspect of representative democracy and focus on the marginalization of young adults in parliaments. So far, the literature has discussed the normative reasons why youth need adequate representation, mapped out the dominance of older politicians in positions of power, and highlighted the factors that explain why some parliaments are older than others. Yet, up to know we have a dearth of scholarship on those youth that actually make it to parliament and the role they play in contemporary national parliaments? Do young parliamentarians feel welcome in their parliamentary group and the legislator, as a whole? Can they convince older MPs about the importance of youth issues? Can they be agenda setters for youth concerns? Using survey research and in-depth interviews, will holistically address these important questions in this project.