School of Social and Political Sciences
Youth Politics: Engagement-Disengagement, Rights-Responsibilities, Policy and Practice
- Professor Andrew Russell, Manchester University
- Thursday 14th January, 4 pm - 6 pm, W/222
- Presentation team: tbc
Professor Andrew Russell
Andrew Russell is Professor of Politics at the University of Manchester. He has written extensively on party politics and engagement of hard to reach groups – especially young people and some minority ethnic communities. He served on the Electoral Commission’s Project Board into the Age of Majority whose recommendations led to the reduction of the minimum age of candidature in UK (from 21 to 18) elections in 2011, was on the advisory board of the Youth Citizenship Commission, and was an official election observer for the Commonwealth during the 2009 elections in Mozambique. He is a board member of the Campaign for Social Science
Interview
Recording of Professor Russell's talk
Seminar synopsis
It is clear that young people in the UK and elsewhere are not completely disengaged with politics. Indeed youth activists were frequently seen to be at the heart of the success of recent phenomena , especially in ‘new politics’ from both sides of the Scottish Referendum campaign, the rise of the SNP and other challenger parties, and the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
However, the picture of youth politics is more complex than is commonly portrayed and understanding the nature of engagement/disengagement of young people is necessary in order to apply effectively to the policy arena.
Using evidence from the UK, Europe and Africa Andrew Russell argues that in order to take youth rights seriously some of the current repertoires of campaigning need to be restructured. In particular he believes that the case for lowering the voting age in the UK is less persuasive now than it has been for the past 50 years.