"Democracy is for the Corrupt Elites, Not for Us!" Young People in Brussels' Vulnerable Neighbourhoods and Their Visions on the Political Elites.

This paper attempts to understand the visions of the Brussels youth stemming from vulnerable neighbourhoods vis-à-vis the political elites through their sentiments on the current democratic state of play. Urban contexts tend to show high levels of political and democratic disaffection among disadvantaged youth, even more so than their rural counterparts who, in contrast, still decide to show their anger through the ballot box. This disconnect from political actors warrants a deeper investigation into how democratic perceptions affect younger urban residents’ views on the political actors. The academic debate on the youth’s evaluation of democracy offers a pessimistic and an optimistic view. Foa and Mounk’s ‘Deconsolidation Thesis’ (2016) exemplifies the former arguing that young people are evolving ever more undemocratic, while others criticise their fatalistic stance by arguing younger generations are more critical about democracy due to heightened democratic expectations for political authorities. Since mostly metalevel surveys conducted among the general public have fueled this debate, the academic literature is missing important sentiments living among specific groups of young people. For instance, it is known that social class inequalities, a migration background and neighbourhood exclusion resentments influence opinions, political trust and engagement. Therefore, this study offers a valuable opportunity to observe the underlying dynamics influencing young people's perceptions of democratic performance and the associated vision on political elites. To this end, this research builds on data from six focus groups with young and ethnically diverse adults between 18 and 30 years raised in economically disadvantaged minority neighbourhoods in Brussels. Such a composition allows for an examination of opinion-forming dynamics during a critical life period for political opinion development within a group shaped by personal or observer experiences of economic hardship. The objective of this paper is to capture their perspective on the functioning of democracy and how this affects the way they look at the current political actors.