Citation

Stockemer D, Anlar B. Elect. Stud. 2024; 90: e102836.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.electstud.2024.102836

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago, Pippa Norris (1997) aptly described that parliaments are composed of middle-aged to senior men of the dominant ethnicity. Over the past two decades, this picture has somewhat changed. In particular, when it comes to gender and ethnicity, parliaments across the globe have become more diverse. Unfortunately, the same diversification has not taken place when it comes to young MPs. To highlight, worldwide, people under 30 represent only 2 percent of MPs, while they represent 50 percent of the population (Magni-Berton and Panel 2021). By contrast the average country leader is 60 years old. Young people under the age of 35 are underrepresented in parliaments by a factor of 3 and those under 40 by a factor of 2 globally and this discrepancy is even greater in developing countries with a high share of youth in the population (Sundström and Stockemer 2021, 199). This underrepresentation of young adults does not go without consequences. In particular, young people might feel alienated from formal politics because of the overrepresentation of "old, white, men" (Pilkington and Pollock 2015). Aware of their lack of representation youth might argue "politics is bollocks" because it caters to the interest of older generations (Pilkington and Pollock 2015). McClean (2022), for example, illustrates that older representatives have shorter time horizons, which lead them to favor immediate interests over long-term goals. This, in turn, can create an "intergenerational deficit" (Bidadanure 2015) where young citizens' preferences may not be adequately considered. Examples of un-crystalized interest young people may have included policies around climate change, gun control or university tuition. ...

Keywords

Candidacies; Parliaments; Political parties; Youth representation