Abstract
This chapter explores ways in which austerity policies have influenced patterns of youth political participation between the core and periphery of the European Union (EU), focusing on Eastern Europe. The varied impact of austerity across the EU is reflected in the finding that young people in the Eastern periphery tend to refrain from both conventional and unconventional modes of political participation. While aggravating socioeconomic conditions have resulted in the rise of unconventional political participation activities among young people in Southern Europe, the same has not been the case in Eastern Europe. On the contrary, our findings suggest a retreat from politics that cuts across the distinction between conventional and unconventional modes of political participation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amnå, E., & Ekman, J. (2014). Standby citizens: Diverse faces of political passivity. European Political Science Review, 6(2), 261–281.
Barnes, S., & Kaase, M. (Eds.). (1979). Political action: Mass participation in five Western democracies. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Blyth, M. (2013). Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bohle, D., & Greskovits, B. (2012). Capitalist diversity on Europe’s periphery. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Busch, K., Hermann, C., Hinrichs, K., & Schulten, T. (2013). Euro crisis, austerity policy and the European social model. How crisis policies in Southern Europe threaten the EU’s social dimension. Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung. Retrieved October 26, 2016, from http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/09656.pdf
Cairns, D., de Almeida Alves, N., Alexandre, A., & Correia, A. (2016). Youth unemployment and job precariousness: Political participation in a neo-liberal era. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dalton, R. (1988). Citizen politics in Western Democracies. Public opinion and political parties in the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, and France. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers.
Dalton, R. (2011). Youth and participation beyond elections. In R. Dalton (Ed.), Engaging youth in politics: Debating democracy’s future (pp. 112–131). New York and Amsterdam: International Debate Education Association.
de la Porte, C., & Pochet, P. (2014). Boundaries of welfare between the EU and member states during the “great recession”. Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 15(3), 281–292.
Eapyouth. (2015). Definition of youth according to age limits. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from http://eapyouth.eu/sites/default/files/documents/request_4_age_limit.pdf
Epstein, R. (2014). Overcoming “economic backwardness” in the European Union. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(1), 17–34.
Esping-Andersen, G. (2002). Why we need a new welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eurostat. (2016a). Expenditure on social protection, 2003–13. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Expenditure_on_social_protection,_2003–13_(%25_of_GDP)_YB16.png
Eurostat. (2016b). People at risk at poverty. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=t2020_50&plugin=1
Eurostat. (2016c). Unemployment rate. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tipsun20&plugin=1
Eurostat. (2016d). Material deprivation. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Severe_material_deprivation_rates,_2012-15_(early_data)_-_%25_of_population_update.png
Eurostat. (2016e). Youth unemployment. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Table_1_Youth_unemployment,_2015Q4_(%25).png
Eurostat. (2016f). Youth leaving home—Average age. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Being_young_in_Europe_today_-_family_and_society
Eurostat. (2016g). Government gross debt. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Public_balance_and_general_government_debt,_2012–2015_(%25_of_GDP)_YB16_III.png
France, A. (2007). Understanding youth in late modernity. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.
Furlong, A., & Cartmel, F. (1997). Risk and uncertainty in the youth transition. Young: The Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 5(1), 3–20.
Gaiser, W., De Rijke, J., & Spannring, R. (2010). Youth and political participation. Empirical results for Germany within a European context. Young, 18(4), 427–450.
Garrido, L., & Requena, M. (1996). La emancipación de los jóvenes en España. Madrid: Instituto de la Juventud (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales).
Grasso, M. T. (2016). Generations, political participation and social change in Western Europe. London: Routledge.
Green Cowles, M., & Smith, M. (2000). The state of the European Union. Risks, reform, resistance, and revival (Vol. 5). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Guillén, A., & Palier, B. (2004). Introduction: Does Europe matter? Accession to EU and social policy developments in recent and new member states. Journal of European Social Policy, 14(3), 203–209.
Hall, P. (2012, October 18). Trouble in the Eurozone: Views on the once and future crisis. Director’s Seminar, Minda de Ginzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Retrieved November 22, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwWTMdTlRq0
Hanzl-Weiss, D., & Landesmann, M. (2013). Structural adjustment and unit labour cost developments in Europe’s periphery: Patterns before and during the crisis. Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://wiiw.ac.at/structural-adjustment-and-unit-labour-cost-developments-in-europe-s-periphery-patterns-before-and-during-the-crisis-p-2986.html
Henn, M., Weinstein, M., & Hodgkinson, S. (2007). Social capital and political participation: Understanding the dynamics of young people’s political disengagement in contemporary Britain. Social Policy and Society, 6(4), 467–479.
Hooghe, M. (2012). Taking to the streets: Economic crises and youth protest in Europe. Harvard International Review, 34(2), 34–38.
Ilišin, V., Bouillet, D., Gvozdanović, A., & Potočnik, D. (2013). Mladi u vremenu krize. Zagreb: IDIZ i Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
International Labour Organization (ILO). (2012). World of work report 2012: Better jobs for a better economy. Retrieved November 22, 2016, from https://www.cliclavoro.gov.it/Moduli%20e%20Documenti/world_of_work_report_2012.pdf
International Social Science Programme (ISSP). (2014). Citizenship. Retrieved October 22, 2016, from http://zacat.gesis.org/webview/index.jsp?object=http://zacat.gesis.org/obj/fStudy/ZA6670
Jacoby, W. (2014). The politics of the Eurozone crisis: Two puzzles behind the German consensus. German Politics Society, 32(2), 70–85.
Judt, T. (2009, February 12). What is living and what is dead in social democracy? The New York Review of Books, 56(2). Retreived from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2009/12/17/what-is-living-and-what-is-dead-in-social-democrac/
Kimberlee, R. (2002). Why don’t British young people vote at general elections? Journal of Youth Studies, 5(1), 85–98.
King, L. (2007). Central European capitalism in comparative perspective. In B. Hancké, M. Rhodes, & M. Thatcher (Eds.), Beyond varieties of capitalism: Conflict, contradictions, and complementarities in the European economy (pp. 307–327).
Kovacheva, S. (2000). Keys to youth participation in Eastern Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Kovacheva, S. (2005). Will youth rejuvenate the patterns of political participation? In J. Forbig (Ed.), Revisiting youth political participation (pp. 19–29). Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Lehndorff, S. (2012). A triumph of failed ideas: European models of capitalism in the crisis. Brussels: European Trade Union Institute.
Lima, M., & Artiles, A. (2013). Youth voice(s) in EU countries and social movements in Southern Europe. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 19(3), 345–364.
Mair, P. (2013). Ruling the void: The hollowing of Western democracy. London: Verso.
Mannheim, K. (1970). The problem of generations. Psychoanalytic Review, 57(3), 163–195.
McKee, M., Karanikolos, M., Belcher, P., & Stuckler, D. (2012). Austerity: A failed experiment on the people of Europe. Clinical Medicine, 12(4), 346–350.
Morales, L. (2009). Joining political organisations: Institutions, mobilisation and participation in Western democracies. Colchester: European Consortium for Political Research Press.
Morciano, D., Scardigno, A. F., Manuti, A., & Pastore, S. (2014). An evaluation study of youth participation in youth work: A case study in Southern Italy. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 13(1), 81–100.
Müller, G. (2014). Fiscal austerity and the multiplier in times of crisis. German Economic Review, 15(2), 243–258.
Naustdalslid, J. (1977). A multi-level approach to the study of center-periphery systems and socio-economic change. Journal of Peace Research, 14(3), 203–222.
Nölke, A., & Vliegenthart, A. (2009). Enlarging the varieties of capitalism: The emergence of dependent market economies in East Central Europe. World Politics, 6(4), 670–702.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2016). Social expenditure of the GDP. Retrieved October 30, 2016, from https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SOCX_AGG#
O’Reilly, J., Eichhorst, W., Gábos, A., Hadjivassiliou, K., Lain, D., Leschke, J., et al. (2015). Five characteristics of youth unemployment in Europe. Sage Open, 5(1), 1–19. Retrieved October 22, 2016, from https://iris.unitn.it/retrieve/handle/11572/118356/28725/O%27Reilly%20et%20al.%202015_SAGE%20Open.full.pdf
Pickard, S. (2018). Politics, protest and young people. Political participation and dissent in Britain in the 21st century. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [forthcoming]
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Sartori, G. (1970). Concept misformation in comparative politics. American Political Science Review, 64(4), 1033–1053.
Schweiger, C., & Magone, J. M. (2014). Differentiated integration and cleavage in the EU under crisis conditions. Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 15(3), 259–265.
Single European Act. (1987). Amending treaty establishing the European economic community, 25 March 1957. Retrieved January 18, 2017, from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV%3Axy0027
Siurala, L. (2000). Changing forms of youth participation. Paper presented at the round table on New Forms of Youth Participation, Biel, Switzerland. Retrieved November 29, 2016, from www.coe.fr/youth/research/participation
Sloam, J. (2007). Rebooting democracy: Youth participation in politics in the UK. Parliamentary Affairs, 60(4), 548–567.
Spajic-Vrkas, V., & Cehulic, M. (2016). Istraživanje građanskog odgoja i obrazovanja—Višerazinski pregled. In M. Kovačić & M. Horvat (Eds.), Od podanika do građana: Razvoj građanske kompetencije mladih (pp. 153–186). Zagreb: Institut za društvena istraživanja i GONG.
The Stability and Growth Pact. (1998). Resolution of the amsterdam European council on the stability and growth pact. Retrieved January 22, 2017, from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1412156825485&uri=URISERV:l25021
Treaty of Maastricht on European Union. (1992). Retrieved January 17, 2017, from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3Axy0026
Ule, M. (1988). Mladina in ideologija. Ljubljana: Delavska enotnost.
Ule, M., & Kuhar, M. (2008). Orientations of young adults in Slovenia toward the family formation. Young, 16(2), 153–183.
Vachudova, M. A. (2014). EU leverage and national interests in the balkans: The puzzles of enlargement ten years on. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 52(1), 122–138.
Van Deth, J. (2001, April 6–11). Studying political participation: Towards a theory of everything? Joint Sessions of Workshops, European Consortium for Political Research, Grenoble, France.
Wallace, C., & Kovatcheva, S. (1998). Youth in society: The construction and deconstruction of youth in East and West Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Williamson, H. (2014). Radicalisation to retreat: Responses of the young to austerity Europe. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 19(1), 5–18.
_YB16.png){kind=link}
_-_%25_of_population_update.png){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
_YB16_III.png){kind=link}
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kovacic, M., Dolenec, D. (2018). Youth Participation in Eastern Europe in the Age of Austerity. In: Pickard, S., Bessant, J. (eds) Young People Re-Generating Politics in Times of Crises. Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58250-4_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58250-4_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58249-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58250-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)