Work

Economic crises and youth civic–political participation: a global panel study of 147 countries (2010–2019)

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Economic crises have become a defining feature of youth experience worldwide, reshaping expectations, solidarities, and political engagement. Using cross‑national panel data from 147 countries (2010–2019), this study examines the association between economic instability and youth civil‑political participation (CPP). Across multiple fixed‑effects and robustness models, the coefficients for economic crises remain consistently negative but statistically insignificant, indicating no systematic association between downturns and formal participation. Yet this statistical silence is sociologically meaningful: chronic insecurity appears to coincide with a transformation of participation into diffuse, affective, and everyday forms of agency. Youth engage through informal solidarities, digital activism, and moral economies of care that elude conventional indicators. We also noted the CPP index, focused on visible and institutionalized participation, fails to capture these quieter modes of political agency. The findings suggest a reconfiguration of engagement under global precarity, as contemporary youth enact relational practices that sustain dignity and reimagine justice from below.

Source: International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2025.2610111

Authors: Boris Lok-fai Pun, Jeremy Ko, Chun Kai Leung, Chunlan Guo, Wai Kit Ming

Institutions: Chinese University of Hong Kong, ETH Zurich, University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong

Language: English

Topic: Youth, Politics, and Society

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,226