Getting adults interested in politics, let alone participating, is difficult enough, at least if one judges by voter turnout rates. In Canada, the last federal election saw 61.4 per cent of adults vote. That is not quite a historic low, but close to it. And it is even worse at the provincial and municipal levels, where usually only about a third of the eligible population votes.
In Jamaica, voter turnout federal elections have seen a similarly precipitous drop, from a high of 86.91 per cent in 1980 to a low of 53.17 per cent in 2011. The world over, a group of interested parties are perpetually trying to figure out why people don’t vote and how to get them to do so, at least for the foreseeable future, while voting remains the only instrument democracies employ to choose leaders.
Several studies have shown that voting is a habit that must be created in one’s early years, that is, as soon as a youth reaches the legal voting age. It has been shown, too, that youth coming from a politically oriented family, where parents vote regularly, are more likely to vote. Civic education courses in school help as well.
A recent study of youth in four Latin American nations (Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Colombia) show some interesting results about young people and political participation in local government. Conducted by the United Nations Development Program, the study looked at the roles young people take in public policy decision-making and human development. According to the report, local government is most accessible for youth and so most likely to be where youth access political participation opportunities. (The study included 41 interviews and focus groups and dialogues with close to 200 youth, as well as 130 surveys).
The youth indicated that they are motivated to participate, whether it be in social or political organizations, for a few reasons, with the most popular being personal motivation (36 per cent) and an attempt to help their community (30 per cent). And what was the response as to why they don’t participate? The reason most cited was “Opportunities to influence changes are found in other circles” at 39 per cent.
An interest on the part of young people to be part of their local level was detected, but at the same time many young people experience feelings of rejection and/or constraints. From this perspective, young people want to become stakeholders and a creative force with the capacity to influence decisions which affect not only their lives but their communities, with the understanding that they will eventually no longer be youth but aspire nonetheless to live in a burgeoning community with opportunities. That is to say they aspire for a “virtuous circle” of human development which implies, on the one hand, political articulation producing beneficial public policies for both the youth itself and the community as a whole, and on the other hand, assuming the role of“change agents.”
Several pilot projects in communities were found to have produced results in terms of increasing dialogue and participation in local government. Interestingly, these projects used hip hop music and soccer as a means of creating links between youth and government.
So it is clear that young people do not get initiated into the political realm through traditional means:
As can be seen, the creation of an identity and political participation in young people is not always articulated in the formal spaces of participation offered by government and the local political system (councils, public consultations, public council meetings or local assemblies, development plans, or political parties). However, neither can it be said that these are articulated fully outside such formal spaces. Rather, a selective use on the part of the youth groups of the formal and informal spaces, as mentioned above, was noted, with young people tending to engage in multiple dimensions and activities.
This is a useful finding, in that going forward, youth can be drawn in through non-traditional programs. However, a barrier of distrust must be overcome. While more than 80 per cent of youth believe that local government is the best way to influence public policy and participate, almost all respondents (98 per cent) do not trust government to properly manage funds. Misinformation, or lack of being informed about political processes is another barrier, as respondents were not able to provide basic information about their governments when surveyed.
To conclude, I will leave you with a thought from the study that speaks to both expectations and the way people participate are changing:
There is emerging evidence showing that many young people are increasingly avoiding the traditional forms of political participation such as voting and the affiliation with political parties, and instead opting for more direct and innovative forms such as volunteerism, artistic and cultural expression, sports, and social auditing exercises, which can have the same effect in terms of their empowerment. As active political participation can play an essential role both in improving human development and democratic governance, it is important to understand if this is due to economic and political conditions and/or reflects rather natural dilemmas in the evolutionary process of democratic governance.
Jamaican Journal 