Youth without representation : the absence of young adults in parliaments, cabinets, and candidacies / Daniel Stockemer and Aksel Sundström

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stockemer, Daniel, author.

Sundström, Askel, author.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Young adults--Political activity.

Young adults.

Representative government and representation.

Political candidates.

Politicians.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource xiii, 180 pages) : illustrations (some color), color maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2022.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Officeholders in contemporary parliaments and cabinets are more likely than not to be male, wealthy, middle-aged or older, and from the dominant ethnicity, whereas young adults have an insufficient presence in political office. Young adults--those aged 35 years or under--comprise a mere ten percent of all parliamentarians globally, and three percent of all cabinet members. Compared to their presence in the world's population, this age group faces an underrepresentation of one to three in parliament and one to ten in cabinet. In this book, Stockemer and Sundström provide a holistic account of youths' marginalization in legislatures, cabinets, and candidacies for office through a comparative lens. They argue that youths' underrepresentation in political office constitutes a democratic deficit and provide ample evidence for why they think that youth must be present in politics at much higher rates. They further embed this book within what they label a vicious cycle of political alienation, which involves the declining political sophistication of the young, their waning electoral participation, and their insufficient of representation in office. Empirically, the authors combine a global focus with in-depth studies, discussing the country-level, party-level, and individual-level factors that bar young adults' entry to positions of political power. This is the first comprehensive book on youth representation and it has relevance for those broadly interested in issues of representation, democracy, inequality, and comparative politics.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Why We Need Increased Youth Representation

2.1. Youth: An Important Group of Study

2.2. The Importance of Group Representation for Youth

2.3. Benefits and Costs of Increased Descriptive Representation of Youth

2.4. The Vicious Cycle of Political Alienation

2.5. The Threefold Link between Young Adults' Low Political Interest and Knowledge, Their Low Electoral Participation, and Their Lack of Representation in Office

2.6. The Endemic Nature of the Vicious Cycle of Youths' Political Alienation

2.7. Increased Youth Representation: One Way to Break the Vicious Cycle of Youth Alienation

2.8. The Youth Representation Literature and Our Contribution

Chapter 3. Youths' Underrepresentation in National Parliaments

3.1. The Magnitude of Youths' Underrepresentation in Parliament

3.2. Youth Representation in Legislatures over Time in Australia, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom

3.3. Explanatory Factors for the Variation in Youth Representation across Countries

3.4. Research Design

3.5. Results

3.6. Discussion

Chapter 4. Youth Representation across Party Delegations in Parliament

4.1. Youths' (under) Representation across Party Delegations

4.2. Young Adults in Australian, German, French, and British Party Delegations over Time

4.3. Explanatory Factors for the Variation in Youth Representation across Parties

4.4. Research Design

4.5. Results

4.6. Discussion

Chapter 5. Young Politicians in Cabinet

5.1. The Magnitude of Youths' Underrepresentation in Cabinet

5.2. Youth Representation in Cabinet over Time in Australia, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom

5.3. Explanatory Factors for the Variation in Youth Representation in Cabinet across Countries.

5.4. Research Design

5.5. Results

5.6. Cabinet Portfolios of Young Ministers

5.7. Discussion

Chapter 6. Youth as Candidates and Elected Representatives

6.1. Comparing Candidates and Elected Representatives

6.2. The Average and Median Age of (Unsuccessful) Candidates and Elected Parliamentarians

6.3. The Share of Young (Unsuccessful) Candidates and Legislators

6.4. The Age Factor in Explaining the Success of Candidates

6.5. Characteristics of Young and Older Candidates

6.6. Electoral Capital of Young(er) and Old(er) Successful Candidates

6.7. Discussion

Chapter 7. Explaining (More) Variation in Youth Representation: Insights from an Original Survey in Sweden and Switzerland

7.1. Added Value of an Original Survey with MPs and Candidates in Sweden and Switzerland

7.2. Methods

7.3. Quantitative and Qualitative Insights of Our Survey

7.4. Youth in the Swedish Riksdag: Some Positive Signs but Still a Long Way to Full Acceptance

7.5. Youth in the Swiss National Council: Still the Exception Rather Than the Rule

7.6. Propositions to Increase Youth Representation

Chapter 8. Conclusions

References

Index.

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-180) and index.

CC BY-NC-ND

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472902842

0472902849

OCLC:

1345286254

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access