Youth Engagement in Young Democracies: Assessing the Patterns, Processes and Impact of Youth Engagement in Ukraine
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Social Sciences
Abstract
Economic globalization, marginalization, and precarity have contributed to mobility, mass protest, and insurgency. Young people play a significant role in sustaining protest movements, and represent a core demographic in internal displacement and migration. Analysts have pointed to the interdependence of these two forms of mobilisation, and theoretical expectations of their drivers overlap significantly. The relationship between them has been theorized at the macro (De Haas & Sigona 2012), and individual levels (Hirschman 1993), yet the literatures on protest and migration tend to be discrete. This project takes Ukraine as a case to consider critically the relationship between youth engagement, protest and migration at moments of heightened political crisis and conflict.
This includes analysis of the micro-foundations of mobilisation as mass protest and migration, in contextual and structural perspective, and exploration of the dynamics between them. What motivates and mobilises post-communist youth to become socially and politically engaged? In displacement how do people participate in the political and civic life of their home? Further, how does youth mobilisation in, across, and out of Ukraine relate to democratisation and peace development?
I draw on the literatures of contentious politics (protest behaviour), and migration theory. Scholars exploring youth engagement highlight two concurrent patterns: although youth are less likely to vote than older generations (Blais & Dobrzynska 1998; Esser & De Vreese 2007), they are more likely to join and become the 'hard core' of grassroots/protest initiatives (Habermas 1971; Saunders et al. 2012). Scholars identify a further puzzle: post-communist generations appear less supportive of democratic transition, and disconnected from liberal democratic norms (Pop-Eleches & Tucker 2013). This raises questions for the role of youth engagement in shaping the socio-political landscape of democracies and democratizing societies.
Although youth initially exhibited high rates of electoral engagement after transition (Blum 2014; Nikolayenko 2017), these competing theoretical expectations seem to map onto empirical realities in Ukraine. Youth have abstained from voting but engage at high rates in non-government, volunteer, social movements, and political party youth-wing organizations. They have been the central force behind two democratic revolutions in 2004 and 2014 (Onuch 2014). There is some indication that they engage in non-partisan political organization, championing decentralization, anti-corruption and multi-culturalism (KIIS 2018).
Ukraine has been a moderate migrant producing country, but a succession of events since EuroMaidan, and armed hostilities in the east, precipitated mass displacement, internally, to Russia, and the EU. Five years on, out-migration continues, predominantly recorded as economic. Although little is known about the patterns and process of youth engagement in Ukraine and regionally, it is seen as key to peace development, and a priority in policy sectors, promoted by international actors. Developing understanding of what motivates, mobilizes, disincentivizes and demobilizes, youth socio-political engagement is vital for scholars of post-authoritarian democratic participation, and policy makers.
This project strikes the dual phenomenon of low rates of electoral engagement and high rates of policy-focused civil society engagement for youth. It seeks to make an important contribution to scholarly and policy knowledge, with scope to: place Ukraine in comparative regional perspective; analyse patterns of youth engagement over time and space; explore determinants and dynamics of protest and migration, as two forms of mobilisation, participating in theoretical discourse; and elucidate the political impact of youth engagement around democratisation and peace development. The project should have direct policy impact through the British Council in Ukraine.
This includes analysis of the micro-foundations of mobilisation as mass protest and migration, in contextual and structural perspective, and exploration of the dynamics between them. What motivates and mobilises post-communist youth to become socially and politically engaged? In displacement how do people participate in the political and civic life of their home? Further, how does youth mobilisation in, across, and out of Ukraine relate to democratisation and peace development?
I draw on the literatures of contentious politics (protest behaviour), and migration theory. Scholars exploring youth engagement highlight two concurrent patterns: although youth are less likely to vote than older generations (Blais & Dobrzynska 1998; Esser & De Vreese 2007), they are more likely to join and become the 'hard core' of grassroots/protest initiatives (Habermas 1971; Saunders et al. 2012). Scholars identify a further puzzle: post-communist generations appear less supportive of democratic transition, and disconnected from liberal democratic norms (Pop-Eleches & Tucker 2013). This raises questions for the role of youth engagement in shaping the socio-political landscape of democracies and democratizing societies.
Although youth initially exhibited high rates of electoral engagement after transition (Blum 2014; Nikolayenko 2017), these competing theoretical expectations seem to map onto empirical realities in Ukraine. Youth have abstained from voting but engage at high rates in non-government, volunteer, social movements, and political party youth-wing organizations. They have been the central force behind two democratic revolutions in 2004 and 2014 (Onuch 2014). There is some indication that they engage in non-partisan political organization, championing decentralization, anti-corruption and multi-culturalism (KIIS 2018).
Ukraine has been a moderate migrant producing country, but a succession of events since EuroMaidan, and armed hostilities in the east, precipitated mass displacement, internally, to Russia, and the EU. Five years on, out-migration continues, predominantly recorded as economic. Although little is known about the patterns and process of youth engagement in Ukraine and regionally, it is seen as key to peace development, and a priority in policy sectors, promoted by international actors. Developing understanding of what motivates, mobilizes, disincentivizes and demobilizes, youth socio-political engagement is vital for scholars of post-authoritarian democratic participation, and policy makers.
This project strikes the dual phenomenon of low rates of electoral engagement and high rates of policy-focused civil society engagement for youth. It seeks to make an important contribution to scholarly and policy knowledge, with scope to: place Ukraine in comparative regional perspective; analyse patterns of youth engagement over time and space; explore determinants and dynamics of protest and migration, as two forms of mobilisation, participating in theoretical discourse; and elucidate the political impact of youth engagement around democratisation and peace development. The project should have direct policy impact through the British Council in Ukraine.
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000665/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 2301974 | Studentship | ES/P000665/1 | 01/10/2019 | 31/01/2025 | Cressida Arkwright |