Political participation among young people – from party democrats to social media activists?

The party engagement among young people have decreased during the last decades, putting representative democracy at risk. Nevertheless, young people are politically engaged, and they are especially engaged in protest activities. The overarching aim of this project is to study young people’s political participation. Are some forms more likely to be chosen by young people than others, and if so why? An important and more recent form of participation, often assumed to be performed mainly by young people, is political participation and activity through social media such as social network sites. Thus, we also seek to understand how social media networks influence young people’s political engagement. The current research is of high international value since it concerns the future of representative democracy, and as such is strategically important for Lund University. The research group is composed of highly skilled researchers from Political Science and Psychology, with an extensive international network and experience in different methodological approaches. Together the researchers have previously published in high ranked international journals, and participated in international conferences.