Reframing Young People’s Political Participation

In this introductory chapter, we provide an account of the conventional theory and practice of youth political participation and say why it is in urgent need of revision. We begin by considering how dominant accounts of young people and their political participation have generally been understood in terms of developmental theory informed by “adultist” prejudices that harm young people while functioning to preserve adult power, privilege, and interests. According to proponents of developmentalism, “adolescence” and “youth” are intrinsically insecure and transitional phases in the “human life cycle” best characterized by inherent deficiencies of cognitive, emotional, social, or moral immaturity when compared with adults. For this reason, for their own sake and for the good of society, it is best that they be kept well away from the “adult business” of politics, and if they do venture into that province, then they must be closely regulated. We show how the developmental theory informs the “governance model” of youth participation and argue that one reason why the developmental theory and the governance models of youth participation are both problematic can be seen in the evidence of the widespread and successful political mobilization of young people over the past century and today. Given this, we argue it is time to reconsider how political participation by young people is generally understood and practiced. Finally, we outline briefly a large shift that is underway in how to “understand the world ontologically,” and the implications of this for new accounts of young people, politics, and political participation.