From deficit to disenfranchisement: rethinking youth participation
Kathy Edwards
Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney
Contact Email:   k.edwardsedfac.usyd.edu.au

The current discourse around youth participation is characterised by concern regarding their perceived declining participation in political, civic and community life. Using empirical data from the Youth Electoral Study (YES) this paper focuses on youth electoral participation. YES was an ARC Linkage project with researchers at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. The partner investigator was The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). The AEC have identified that a significant number of young Australians are not enrolled to vote, and the popular press frequently attributes this to their political apathy. The roots of this perceived ‘civic deficit’ have been considered by the policy literature to lie in a deficit of democratic knowledge. Thus youth electoral participation has been addressed primarily in the context of education policy. This paper discusses some of the barriers that marginalised young people face to accessing the franchise. In doing so it seeks to reposition youth electoral participation in a social justice context and as a problem for social policy. In particular it explores a paradox: in contemporary Australia youth are castigated for a lack of electoral participation while at the same time a shrinking welfare state contributes to their disenfranchisement.

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