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Why Youth? Many have asked, “Why is it important to involve young people in decision-making?” National governments fail when their citizens no longer respond to them. Engaging people, as citizens, is a challenge all over the world. Young people are especially significant because they constantly enter society with fresh energy and fresh perspectives. To focus on youth is to focus on participation. To focus on participation is to transform the systems by which citizens are formed and the ways in which they respond to their national governments and to the rest of the world. Youth have recently showed their power in Serbia and the Philippines where they struggled to overthrow and replace corrupt national governments. Much research suggests that young people are the leading agents of change these days because they play by different rules, they have few ties to the “way things are,” and they have the energy to create a world of their own. Engaging young people in decision-making is the healthiest way to negotiate change. A. Legal Rationale Young people have fundamental rights which are denied all around the world, including the right to participate in decision-making. Moreover, formal legal frameworks are already in place that recognize and protect the fundamental rights of young people. National governments uphold citizen’s rights to protect democracy. Young people’s rights must be upheld as well because the same factors that violate youth rights inhibit the development of democracy.
See a deeper exploration of this rationale: B. Political Rationale Around the world there is growing unrest and awareness of the need for innovations in economic, social, and political organization. The causes of this unrest range from the end of the cold war to the increasing global integration of diverse cultures. At the same time there is political reform underway all over the world as well as growing concern on the issue of global governance. There will be change. The question is, where in the process are we, and how peaceful or violent is the change going to be. Young people are a significant and powerful component of civil society and correspondingly a real political and social force. They will need to participate in the change process to ensure stability and peace.
See a deeper exploration of this rationale:
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