Page 65 - Šolsko polje, XXX, 2019, št. 5-6: Civic, citizenship and rhetorical education in a rapidly changing world, eds. Janja Žmavc and Plamen Mirazchiyski
P. 65
xpected political participation and demographic
changes in Europe
Mojca Rožman and Diego Cortés
During the last two decades, politics in western societies have faced
several challenges. For example, Parvin and Saunders (2018) out-
line increasing political inequality, the decline of political par-
ticipation and voter incompetence as some of these major challenges.
The European Union (EU) has been no exemption to this and it is cur-
rently undergoing one of its most serious political crisis since its estab-
lishment. A key ingredient for this crisis has been an increasingly polar-
ized society across several civic and political domains. For example, in
May 2019 it was the first time in 40 years that the center-left / center-
right European parliamentary coalition lost its majority; going from the
previously secured 54% of the seats to just 43%. In many occasions, both
right-wing populist parties and liberal green parties outperformed the
traditional political parties. Migration has been a central, but not exclu-
sive, issue fueling this political and societal polarization. In this light,
the purpose of this paper is to explore whether changes in expected po-
litical participation of young European adults during the last decade can
be linked with the political crisis associated with the arrival of migrants
seeking asylum in Europe.
Political participation refers to the engagement of the public in dif-
ferent activities affecting politics. Van Deth (2019) presents the core fea-
tures of political participation after which any “voluntary, nonprofession-
al activity concerning government, politics, or the state” represents an
example of political participation. Defined as such, participatory activities
are for example, voting, demonstrating, signing a petition, etc. Voting is
vital in a system of representative democracy. Elections make a fundamen-
63
changes in Europe
Mojca Rožman and Diego Cortés
During the last two decades, politics in western societies have faced
several challenges. For example, Parvin and Saunders (2018) out-
line increasing political inequality, the decline of political par-
ticipation and voter incompetence as some of these major challenges.
The European Union (EU) has been no exemption to this and it is cur-
rently undergoing one of its most serious political crisis since its estab-
lishment. A key ingredient for this crisis has been an increasingly polar-
ized society across several civic and political domains. For example, in
May 2019 it was the first time in 40 years that the center-left / center-
right European parliamentary coalition lost its majority; going from the
previously secured 54% of the seats to just 43%. In many occasions, both
right-wing populist parties and liberal green parties outperformed the
traditional political parties. Migration has been a central, but not exclu-
sive, issue fueling this political and societal polarization. In this light,
the purpose of this paper is to explore whether changes in expected po-
litical participation of young European adults during the last decade can
be linked with the political crisis associated with the arrival of migrants
seeking asylum in Europe.
Political participation refers to the engagement of the public in dif-
ferent activities affecting politics. Van Deth (2019) presents the core fea-
tures of political participation after which any “voluntary, nonprofession-
al activity concerning government, politics, or the state” represents an
example of political participation. Defined as such, participatory activities
are for example, voting, demonstrating, signing a petition, etc. Voting is
vital in a system of representative democracy. Elections make a fundamen-
63
