Voting Before Blogging: Political Participation of Youth in Slovakia

Conventional wisdom, which is borne out by empirical findings, suggests that young people have become less interested in politics over the last few decades (Bečević & Dahlstedt, 2022; Sloam, 2014; Putnam, 2000). Some scholars hold that low voter participation can be explained by low levels of political trust (Hooghe & Marien, 2013; Almond & Verba, 1963). This represents a potential threat to the quality of democracy, which depends on informed citizens interested in politics (Dahl, 1989; Diamond & Morlino, 2005). The normative theory of democracy presumes that young people become active citizens who participate in elections and engage in political life, which includes becoming involved with political parties. Should young people’s interest in politics continue to decrease and remain low as they mature, this would indicate a considerable decline in democratic quality in the future. Some scholars have already shown that low political participation during formative years may easily translate into low political mobilization during adulthood (Hooghe et al., 2004). Therefore, political scientists are rightly interested in studying the political involvement of youth in democracies.