Carnegie Young People Initiative

Can the Internet really engage young people in democratic processes? If so, can it go one step further and enable young people to have real power in influencing decision making through cyber space? The Carnegie Young People Initiative has commissioned Professor Stephen Coleman from the Oxford Internet Institute to consider some of these questions. The report is due out in May 2005.

Key Contacts

Raji Hunjan, Co-Director, Carnegie Young People Initiative, Elizabeth House, York Road, London SE1; 020 7401 5463; raji@carnegie-youth.org.uk

Professor Stephen Coleman, Oxford Internet Institute, Jesus College, Oxford; stephen.coleman@oii.ox.ac.uk

Key Objectives

With an increasing interest in young people’s participation at policy level, this research project aims to find out:

• Whether young people are likely to use youth-targeted participation web content.
• Whether this content can or does encourage greater participation.
• Whether young people are satisfied with the outcomes when participating online.
• What decision-makers must do to ensure participation web-content contributes to the sustainability of the participation agenda.

The Context

Concern about young people’s lack of engagement in formal political processes has been widely documented in recent years. The debate has centred on young people’s alienation from Westminster, their negatives views about elected representatives, and their lack of interest in participating in elections.

Yet research is showing that whilst young people have little interest in party politics, they are still keen to get involved in single issues at local, national and international level. Evidence is also suggesting that young people are more likely to get involved at times when it is clear that their views may influence the decision making process. This could be through Youth Forums with a clear mandate to contribute to local level politics, or via demonstrations and petitions to influence national and global issues such as the war in Iraq.

Our main concern with contemporary democracy is that it assumes that young people themselves do not have much to say. It also assumes that those young people who are interested are content to simply listen to other people debating politics, without having any real power or influence over decision-making processes themselves. Attempts to encourage two way dialogues are often half hearted and not thought through. Far from making young people apathetic, this is leaving them angry and frustrated.

Therefore the debate now needs to move forward to consider how democratic institutions can tap into young people’s interest in political issues, and encourage a genuine dialogue between young people and politicians. Carnegie Young People Initiative is interested in the role of new technology in helping to make this connection. In 2002, we commissioned Demos to produce Logged Off, which found evidence to suggest that the Internet could play a key role in engaging young people in formal politics.

Processes and Methods

Young People, the Internet and Citizenship aims to explore what has changed since 2002, and to conduct further research in this area. The project focuses not on how young people should engage with democratic institutions, but how democratic institutions could engage with young people. This research explores whether the Internet can help decision makers and politicians to communicate more effectively with young people. Understanding of the Internet’s potential is still evolving as technologies continue to develop and we challenge arguments which suggest the potential for decision making bodies to engage with young people through websites.

As our starting point, we note that there are a growing number of websites which all claim that they can engage young people in political processes. Whilst we agree that many of these websites are teaching young people about politics, we argue that they are not always helping to widen real access and influence in democracy.

We began by conducting quantitative research involving young people between the ages of 13 and 18. The research was carried out through face to face interviews and a special website which set tasks for the participants, asking them to comment a range of websites, and to search for political information and opportunities to interact. Participants were able to read comments made by their peers and respond to different points of views. This research was conducted by Chris Rowe, freelance Consultant, who has also worked with the Citizenship Foundation and the Learning Skills Development Agency.

Watch this space

This work questions whether top down politics can have an impact on young people’s participation, and challenges whether the Internet can assist young people to be more influential, when they so often lack power in the real world.

Young People, Internet and Citizenship will make critical reading for anyone who is thinking of building a website to encourage young people to engage in the political process.