Civic and Political Participation of Young People in a Context of Changes

For the last thirty years, political scientists have tried to explain why the majority of young people rejected openly traditional politics and refused to vote. Yet, a minority was involved in several types of movements and was engaged in civic participation. This reality has not been neglected and has often been studied. Recently, however, a total new picture seems to emerge. The youth is at the centre of “revolutions” in several countries; in other places, they openly contest government policies. New technologies support those protests and bring expectations for new forms of democracy. Should we reverse totally our old image for that reason? Are we in front of new kind of involvements, new forms of political socialisation, new politics? More than ever, it is time to reflect on those changes without broad generalisations: what can the new data tell us in different countries? What experiments do illustrate the changes? Can we measure trends for a “generation”? What are the ideas brought by institutions or the young people themselves to encourage those involvement? What are the obstacles that refrain some youth to participate and why? Those are some of the questions we will address in the panels of this section.