Abstract
Introduction: education for citizenship
While some governments are worried by the desire of young people to participate in the decision-making process, there is a near moral panic in Britain that the young are apathetic, alienated and uninterested in politics. The 1999 EU election, the 2001 General Election and the 2003 Scottish Parliament election showed consistently low turnouts, especially among 18–24-year-olds.
Yet, there is also evidence that, although young people are alienated from formal
politics, they are active and interested in single issue, environmental, political, third world and animal welfare issues (Roker et al., 1999), perhaps best shown by the youthful nature of the anti-capitalist/Globalise Resistance campaigns, the Jubilee 2000 campaign and the involvement of large numbers of young people, including school students, in protests before and during the second Gulf War in 2003. Single issue politics is still capable of mobilizing massive support.
While some governments are worried by the desire of young people to participate in the decision-making process, there is a near moral panic in Britain that the young are apathetic, alienated and uninterested in politics. The 1999 EU election, the 2001 General Election and the 2003 Scottish Parliament election showed consistently low turnouts, especially among 18–24-year-olds.
Yet, there is also evidence that, although young people are alienated from formal
politics, they are active and interested in single issue, environmental, political, third world and animal welfare issues (Roker et al., 1999), perhaps best shown by the youthful nature of the anti-capitalist/Globalise Resistance campaigns, the Jubilee 2000 campaign and the involvement of large numbers of young people, including school students, in protests before and during the second Gulf War in 2003. Single issue politics is still capable of mobilizing massive support.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 97-105 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Improving Schools |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2004 |
| Externally published | Yes |