Overview
- Explores the link between political enfranchisement and civic and political participation
- Assesses the effect of civic education on the relationship between enfranchisement and political behaviour
- Considers the influence of socialising agents, including parents, friendship groups and the school context
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics (PSYPP)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- political participation
- youth engagement
- youth participation
- lower voting age
- civic engagement
- Latin American politics
- European politics
- North American politics
- voting age debate
- political engagement of young people
- civic education
- democratic citizenship
- enfranchisement
- attitudes and voting
- representation
- voter turnout
- democracy
- citizenship
About this book
This book explores the consequences of lowering the voting age to 16 from a global perspective, bringing together empirical research from countries where at least some 16-year-olds are able to vote. With the aim to show what really happens when younger people can take part in elections, the authors engage with the key debates on earlier enfranchisement and examine the lead-up to and impact of changes to the voting age in countries across the globe. The book provides the most comprehensive synthesis on this topic, including detailed case studies and broad comparative analyses. It summarizes what can be said about youth political participation and attitudes, and highlights where further research is needed. The findings will be of great interest to researchers working in youth political socialization and engagement, as well as to policymakers, youth workers and activists.
Reviews
“This is a well-informed and well-balanced collection of concrete case studies from around the world about lowering the voting age. In a comprehensive way, it takes forward our understanding of the multiple issues at stake regarding votes at 16 and often sidelined young citizens.” (Dr Sarah Pickard, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France)
“This is a much needed volume on a topic that is widely discussed both in public and in academia. The book gives an excellent and internationally comparative overview of theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for and against lowering the voting age.” (Prof Simone Abendschön, University of Giessen, Germany)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Jan Eichhorn is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and Research Director of the Berlin-based think tank d|part. His research focuses on political participation and attitudes with a particular emphasis on young people.
Johannes Bergh is Head of the Norwegian National Election Studies Program. He has led two research projects that studied the Norwegian trials with voting at 16. His research focuses on political behavior generally, but especially that of young people.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Lowering the Voting Age to 16
Book Subtitle: Learning from Real Experiences Worldwide
Editors: Jan Eichhorn, Johannes Bergh
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32541-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-32540-4Published: 09 December 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-32543-5Published: 09 December 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-32541-1Published: 27 November 2019
Series ISSN: 2946-501X
Series E-ISSN: 2946-5028
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVI, 245
Number of Illustrations: 18 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: Electoral Politics, Democracy, Public Policy, Political Communication, Citizenship, Comparative Politics