Comparative Youth Politics

Catalog description

Around the world, young people are mobilizing to make their voices heard. From Hong Kong to North Africa, youth are protesting political and economic conditions; meanwhile their counterparts in Europe and North America are organizing climate strikes and other actions. In addition to direct action, youth are working to advance their ideas through electoral politics and in non-governmental organizations. This course will look at youth politics both conceptually and empirically. What does it mean to be young? How are youth different from other categories of citizens? How are youth excluded and marginalized, politically, socially, and economically, and what strategies are available to them for resisting and adapting to states that all to often ignore them? The course will focus on cases outside North America, but students will apply the concepts and theories we have studied to individual research projects on youth politics in the US and other countries of which they have direct experience. Satisfies Political Science major requirement. Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement.