From Democratic Resilience to European Citizenship: Governance, Epistemic Participation, and Youth Agency

Drawing on empirical analyses from the Horizon Europe project YOUROPE, this paper examines how EU governance processes shape the epistemic conditions of youth participation and, in turn, reconfigure European citizenship. It argues that prevailing approaches to democratic resilience insufficiently address epistemic dimensions of citizenship, particularly the institutional organisation of knowledge, voice, and recognition in youth-oriented participatory governance. Empirically, the paper builds on comparative analyses of EU-funded participatory programmes, community-led research and action (CLRA) processes, and qualitative case studies of youth participation across selected European contexts. The data include policy document analysis, observations of participatory formats, and qualitative interviews, as well as writing tasks. This empirical material allows for an examination of how governance arrangements structure who is recognised as a legitimate knower and how youth epistemic agency is enabled or constrained in practice.