Representative Voices

Abstract

Youth belonging to marginalised groups are underrepresented in political decision-making processes throughout Europe. This is especially problematic for inclusion and diversity in political representation. This study examined the relationship between youth (aged 15 to 25) belonging to marginalised groups and their participation in formal and informal political decision-making processes in Europe. Confidence to participate politically was included as a moderating variable. With use of the European Social Survey wave 9 from 2018, the hypotheses were tested among two samples; respondents aged 18 to 25 to analyse formal political participation and respondents aged 15 to 25 to analyse informal political participation, using a binary logistic regression analysis. The results show that belonging to marginalised groups has a positive effect on both formal and informal political participation among youth. Furthermore, low levels of confidence to participate politically has a negative effect on formal political participation for youth belonging to marginalised groups. Confidence to participate politically has no effect on informal political participation. Based on the results of this study, policy suggestions are made focussed on the organisation Kennisland who facilitates bottom-up youth-participation within schools and policy-making.