The Politics of Deception

Youth Political Participation in an Age of Global Crises
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-0-367-35277-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 328 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

In a time of global crises, governments, international agencies and various experts claim to promote political participation that is inclusive of children and young people. This book details how these claims tend to be deceptive.

The Politics of Deception demonstrates how youth parliaments, councils and roundtables are governance exercises not just designed and tightly managed by adults but limited by them. Informed by adultist ways of seeing, young people are represented as vulnerable and citizens-in-waiting and cannot be taken seriously as political agents. Parallel to these formal initiatives, large numbers of young people are recognising the interconnected nature of contemporary crises, mobilising politically in diverse ways, from street marches to digital action, to push for equality, social justice and planetary survival. Animated by optimism and recognition that intergenerational solidarity is essential for creating a future in which humans and ‘more-than humans’ can flourish, Judith Bessant and Rob Watts illustrate how youth participation, as it is commonly practised, is deeply political, deceptive, highly contested and too often informed by outdated and harmful representations of young people.

This volume is for young people, researchers, policymakers, parents and educators wanting to better understand what is happening in the world and who appreciate the value of recognising young people’s political capacity and right to help shape the world.

Zielgruppe

General, Postgraduate, Professional, and Undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bessant, Judith

Watts, Rob

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Being political and youth participation; 2. Deception and youth participation: A heuristic; 3. The democratic crisis: The theory and practice of youth participation; 4. Democracy is no place for ‘the people’: What political theorists say about citizen participation; 5. International development and youth participation: Myth and reality; 6. ‘In your dreams’: Australian case studies of youth participation and government policy; 7. What young people are doing: Political participation by young people in a time of crises; 8. Children and young people’s strategic climate litigation; 9. Children and Lowering the Voting Age: Democracy and youth participation; 10 ‘Children of the Anthropocene’: A post-anthropocentric ontology and young people’s politics; 11. Epilogue: Protocols for youth participation beyond the governance model

Über Autor(innen)

Judith Bessant AM, FASSA, is a Distinguished Professor at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research is positioned in the intersections between youth studies, sociology, politics, history, technology-media studies, planetary and public health and youth participation.

Rob Watts FASSA, is Professor of Social Policy, RMIT University, Australia where he teaches politics, social theory and policy studies. He has published widely on young people, social movements and climate change, human rights, and state crime.