Restoring trust: Youth participation from below and top-down in Amsterdam

Differences in turnout rates in Amsterdam’s municipal elections have become larger and structurally significant in recent decades. Socio-economic inequality, spatial segregation, and lower involvement of certain groups in political decision-making have led to growing participatory inequality in Amsterdam. Lower-educated young (16-27) people and young people with migrant backgrounds in particular believe that politicians speak a different language, do not recognize themselves in politicians, and do not see the topics that are important to them in the political debate. Most importantly, this group within the Amsterdam electorate displays very low levels of institutional and political trust, in addition to the low levels of political self-confidence (internal efficacy) that they hold. This is due to personal experiences of institutional exclusion and discrimination, low levels of political representation, and numerous recent examples of institutional racism in the Netherlands. In this paper we study different forms of youth civic and political participation in Amsterdam, both bottom-up and top-down, that attempt to enhance levels of political trust (internal and external) and, as a result, to restore political participation and the relationship between young Amsterdammers and local authorities.