The Culpable Youth? An Age, Period and Cohort Analysis of Youth (Dis)Engagement in Advanced Democracies

Despite the rise in education levels, younger cohorts in advanced, liberal societies are seemingly turning away from democracy. The future electorate’s political withdrawal may be a sign for the crisis of democracy. It is, however, still unclear whether young people are rejecting fundamental democratic values (e.g. rule of law, equal rights) or whether their apathy reflects disapproval of how their democratic government works. Addressing this debate and using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) dataset, I investigate whether young people are turning away from liberal principles of democracy or from its procedures in 35 OECD countries. The analysis estimates a cross-sectional hierarchical random effects model to isolate the highly collinear time effects- age, period and cohort (APC). The findings suggest that younger cohorts are disengaging from the traditional processes of voting and aligning with a political party as a result of the poor performance of their democracies; yet, their endorsement of democratic principles remain stable. This is consistent with generational theories: younger cohorts with higher cognitive resources (such as education), political sophistication and emancipatory values are shunning elite-directed, traditional modes of participation. Further, they rely less on partisan cues to guide their democratic decisions. Noteworthily, university education emerges as a crucial factor as it uniquely and consistently promotes pro-democratic attitudes and behaviours, irrespective of generational membership. Since young people still largely support democratic ideals, it would be too hasty a conclusion to hold them responsible for heralding a crisis of democracy.