Bringing Youth Back to the Ballot Box: Bolstering Democracy and the Representation of the Young Generation

With a few notable exceptions, the young generation’s electoral and political party participation have been on the wane in recent years. In a bid to make their voices heard, young people are increasingly using their agency by turning to Do-It-Ourselves politics, i.e., “DIO politics” through lifestyle politics and issue-based, fluid horizonalist protest networks that aspire to internal democracy. Yet, if young people do not vote and stand as candidates, their values, needs, hopes and fears can be under-represented because powerholders in ageing populations tend to focus on older cohorts that have rates of electoral engagement. This paper deals with potential mechanisms to bolster voter registration and voting among young citizens, as well as scope to encourage young people to join a political party youth wing and stand as candidates. It details ways politicians and society more widely can advance young people’s participation and representation to the benefit of democracy. The paper starts with a brief outline of available data on registration, turnout and party membership regarding young people. It then analyses explanations proffered for lower rates of engagement with institutional and electoral politics in young generations compared to older generations and younger generations in the past. These include the political life cycle, apathy and alienation, structural issues and polity itself. The main part of the paper focusses on how obstacles to youth political participation and representation can be overcome. Among others, these include: 1) supply-side issues, 2) structural levers, 3) logistical measures, 4) outreach work and 5) mentoring. Through these suggestions, it appears that they are ways to reconnect young people and electoral politics if there is a political will to do so. The United Kingdom is used as a case study to illustrate recent shifts in the dynamics of youth political participation and representation in the 21st century. The paper draws on and develops research contained my monograph Politics, Protest and Young People. Political Participation and Dissent in 21st Century Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, 501 pages).