Workshop on 7 February 2013, Royal Holloway (University of London)

Public involvement is a cornerstone of democracy. Yet in almost all established democracies engagement in traditional political institutions has declined in recent decades, leading to what some have seen as a crisis in citizenship. These trends are most striking amongst young people, who have become increasingly alienated from mainstream electoral politics in Europe. Nevertheless, there is overwhelming evidence to show that young people are not apathetic about ‘politics’ – they have their own views and engage in democracy in a wide variety of ways relevant to their everyday lives. Indeed, it is young people themselves who are diversifying political engagement: from consumer politics, to community campaigns, to international networks facilitated by online technology; from the ballot box, to the street, to the Internet; from political parties, to social movements and issue groups, to social networks.

Young Europeans are today faced by a particularly tough environment – austerity budgets that reduce spending on public services (young people are high users of these services) and a hostile labour market for new entrants. The chaos created by the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis has also revealed a lack of intergenerational solidarity. From worsening levels of child poverty, to the increased use of means-testing for unemployment benefits (young people are much more likely to be unemployed), to cuts in youth services and education budgets, to increased university tuition fees, public policy responses to the financial crises have placed a disproportionate burden on the young.

In this context, the rise and proliferation of protest politics amongst young Europeans is hardly surprising. 2011 was the year that many young people rose up and overthrew their leaders in North Africa and the Middle East (the ‘Arab Spring’). Youth activism also became a major feature of European political landscape: from the Occupy movement against the excesses of global capitalism, to mass demonstrations of the ‘outraged young’ (the ‘indignados’) against political corruption and youth unemployment, to direct action by ‘hactivists’ working for the Anonymous collective.

The workshop will address three main themes in young people’s politics: how young people participate in ‘politics’ (in its broadest sense); why they choose to engage or not engage different modes of political action; and, who participates – rich or poor, well-educated or less well-educated – in this diverse generation. It will also explore ways in which youth participation in democracy might be strengthened within the context of an adverse economic climate.

The main objectives of the workshop are to present full papers that can contribute to a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal on young people’s politics in Europe, and to establish a network of scholars researching in the area of young people/ political participation that can act as a springboard for future funding bids.

Programme

Thursday, 7 February: Venue: Large Boardroom, Founder’s Building, Royal Holloway

10:30 – 11:00 Registration/ tea and coffee (outside large boardroom)

11:00 – 11:15 Welcome and Introduction: James Sloam (Royal Holloway)

11:15 – 12:45 Panel 1: Young People, Political Community and Collective Action

   Henrik P Bang (University of Copenhagen) Dilemmas of youth participation: between social and political community

   Ben O’Loughlin (Royal Holloway) and Andrew Hoskins (University of Glasgow) Youth Politics of the New Mass: The Temporalities of Connectivity and Agency

12:45 – 13:30 Lunch (outside large boardroom)

13:30 – 15:15 Panel 2: New Cultures of Engagement

   Elvira Cicognani (University of Bologna) Psychosocial factors in civic and political participation of Italian youth

   Reingard Spannring (University of Innsbruck) Political Cultures: Implications for Leadership and Education

   James Sloam (Royal Holloway) Diversity and Voice: the Political Participation of Young People in the European Union

15:15 – 15:45 Tea and Coffee (outside large boardroom)

15:45 – 17:15 Panel 3: Understanding Young People’s Political Behaviour and Conceptualising Change

   Erik Amna (Örebro University) Beyond ‘political passivity’. Understanding change in youths’ political behavior.

   Anne Muxel (Sciences Po, Paris) Mistrust, intermittent voting, protest: towards a new model of citizenship in advanced democracies

Followed by drinks reception (outside large boardroom)

19:30 Meal for Speakers

The post highlights Giacomo's latest book on the EU budget published this month with Palgrave.

Read more about it on CEP blog.

Copies can be ordered from Palgrave-Macmillan.

Billur Aslan, PhD student in the Department of Politics and International Relations, attended the 17th DGAP New Faces Conference (NFC) which was held between 4-7 October in Cairo. Organised by the German Council on Foreign Relations and the American University in Cairo,  The NFC brought together 20 young professionals from academia, politics, civil society, the media, and the corporate sector. The topic of this year was “Pluralism in Egypt and Tunisia-How the Political Opening is Changing Islamist Forces”. The group analysed Islamist movements in Egypt and Tunisia in an interdisciplinary setting, questioned how pluralism and political opening are affecting and changing them, and pinpointed concrete policy measures and priorities they are offering their respective citizens. The NFC provided us a forum to discuss these issues with like minded peers and senior experts. Billur presented a paper entitled, 'Connective Power of Islamist Parties: How does the Internet shape the activities of Islamists in Egypt?'. Billur analysed the Internet activities of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and their impacts on the movement.

Key speakers of the conference were Khaled Hamza, Chief Editor of the Muslim Brotherhood’s main website, ikhwanweb.com, and Gudrun Krämer, Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and Director of the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at Freie Universität Berlin.

The deadline for applications for ESRC funding is 4pm Friday February 22nd 2013. In order to apply for ESRC funding you must be eligible for an award and be accepted on to the PhD programme in the Department of Politics and International Relations.

Full details on ESRC PhD funding can be found here.

Applications and Admissions

Applications from students who wish to be considered for ESRC funding should be made directly to the Department of Politics and International Relations. The Department welcomes applications from highly qualified and motivated candidates. The application process for our postgraduate research programmes is an interactive one. We place great emphasis on matching prospective students to supervisors’ interests, building on our existing research activities. We are particularly keen to encourage applications in areas related to our four research units - Centre for European Politics; the New Political Communications Unit; the Centre for Global and Transnational Studies and the Political Theory Reading Group.

Interested potential applicants should first refer to our website to obtain a good idea of the department's research foci: click here. The Department is only able to consider applications in research areas of interest to its full-time academic staff. Research interests of Centre for European Politics staff can be found here.

In the first instance, potential applicants should prepare a research proposal, outlining the project that they will undertake if accepted onto the PhD programme.  This should be at least 8-10 pages long and should include the key research questions, hypothesis, proposed methodology and a bibliography. Email this research proposal, along with a cv, to the Director of Graduate Study, Dr Alister Miskimmon (until 14/12/12) or Dr Evelyn Goh who will take over as Director of Graduate Studies on 1st January 2013.

If the proposal is met with interest by a potential supervisor, the Director of Graduate Study will invite the potential applicant to discuss their proposal further via email. UK-based applicants may be invited to visit the Department. Promising potential applicants will then be advised to apply formally for a place on our PhD programme. Candidates shortlisted for the PhD programme will be interviewed.

Potential applicants may contact the Director of Graduate Study with proposals at any stage of the academic year. We will also have a range of Royal Holloway scholarships which will be awarded on a competitve basis to well-qualified candidates.