How do norms of citizenship shape young people's approaches to elections at national and EU levels in a polarised Europe?

There is increasing attention on how citizens embrace the promise of European democracy—exemplified by the direct election to the European Parliament—and what this signifies for their norms of good citizenship and civic values. These contributions directly engage with both the promise of and the growing polarisation within liberal democracies in Europe, often emphasising the urgent need to revisit the relationship between norms of good citizenship, political behaviour, and approaches to national and European politics. However, we know relatively little about how young people's conceptions of citizenship and their roles as "good citizens" influence their perceptions of and approaches to European and national (parliamentary) elections, both in their own right and in comparison to one another. Moreover, the growing embrace of radical viewpoints—often at the expense of liberal ideals in Europe—makes this an even more pressing issue. Considering that young people shape the future of both citizenship and the political systems that govern them, understanding their perspectives is crucial. Against this backdrop, this paper constructs a model of "good" European citizenship among young people. It applies multilevel models to data from the European segment of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) in 2009, 2016, and 2022 to investigate whether youth approaches to European elections reveal second-order preferences and exhibit a polarising character. Specifically, the paper explores the relationship between different norms of young people’s good citizenship—such as duty-based, engaged, and passive norms—and how these norms shape approaches to European and national elections. Additionally, it examines what these norms signify for the adoption of radical views on key issues, particularly migration and green politics, while assessing the influence of individual and aggregate (country-level) citizenship attitudes and socio-economic factors. Understanding how young people conceive of "good" citizenship and how this informs their civic and political engagement has important implications for current debates about how citizens are likely to respond to growing polarisation in Europe.