This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book investigates the reasons behind the 2017 youthquake – which saw the highest rate of youth turnout in a quarter of a century, and an unprecedented gap in youth support for Labour over the Conservative Party – from both a comparative and a theoretical perspective. It compares youth turnout and party allegiance over time and traces changes in youth political participation in the UK since the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis – from austerity, to the 2016 EU referendum, to the rise of Corbyn – up until the June 2017 General Election. The book identifies the rise of cosmopolitan values and left-leaning attitudes amongst Young Millennials, particularly students and young women. The situation in the UK is also contrasted with developments in youth participation in other established democracies, including the youthquakes inspired by Obama in the US (2008) and Trudeau in Canada (2015).

Political science; Great Britain-Politics and government; Elections; Democracy; Comparative politics; Social groups; Family This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

This book provides insight into the diverse ways young people from around the world are regenerating politics in innovative and multifaceted ways. The authors, who include academics and activists, challenge claims that young people are apolitical, apathetic and living up to the ‘me generation’ stereotype. Contributions cover a rich body of case examples of traditional and new forms of youth politics in response to situated injustices and political and socio-economic crises. Significant and optimistic, the collection presents strong evidence from across the globe that these developments are not isolated incidences, but are in fact part of a systemic, large-scale transformation leading to a regeneration of the political landscape by young people. The book is aimed at students and scholars in the fields of politics, sociology, policy studies and youth and childhood studies.

Youth Work in the Commonwealth: A Growth Profession establishes a baseline to inform the planning and implementation of initiatives to professionalise youth work in Commonwealth member countries. The study was conducted in 35 countries in the Africa, Asia, the Caribbean/Americas, Europe and Pacific regions. It catalogues the extent to which the youth work profession is formally recognised in these countries and examines the qualities and rights-based ethos of the various forms of youth work promoted and practised in the Commonwealth. The report aims to help countries learn from good practices, and assess gaps in establishing youth work as a recognised profession in diverse contexts.

Sarah Pickard offers a detailed and wide-ranging assessment of electoral and non-electoral political participation of young people in contemporary Britain, drawing on perspectives and insights from youth studies, political science and political sociology. This comprehensive book enquires into the approaches used by the social sciences to understand young people’s politics and documents youth-led evolutions in political behaviour. After unpicking key concepts including ‘political participation,’ ‘generations,’ the ‘political life-cycle,’ and the ‘youth vote,’ Pickard draws on a combination of quantitative and qualitative research to trace the dynamics operating in electoral political participation since the 1960s. This includes the relationship between political parties, politicians and young people, youth and student wings of political parties, electoral behaviour and the lowering of the voting age to 16. Pickard goes on to discuss personalised engagement through what she calls young people’s (DIO) Do-It-Ourselves political participation in online and offline connected collectives. The book then explores young people’s political dissent as part of a global youth-led wave of protest. This holistic book will appeal to anyone with an interest in young people, politics, protest and political change.

‘Liam is one of Britain’s most brilliant young writers. He was ridiculed for believing a Corbyn-led Labour party could inspire people – but ultimately completely vindicated. If you want to know why the youth surge happened, this is an absolute must-read.’ Owen Jones The 2017 general election saw Jeremy Corbyn inspire young people to demand a new kind of socialism. Now, from the heart of the Labour Party, Liam Young asks how this new movement can help secure a fairer and better society for all. When Jeremy Corbyn decided to stand for the Labour leadership in 2015, Liam Young - then just 19 years old - knew this was a watershed moment for the party and for young people across the country. He joined Corbyn's campaign and was soon writing for the Independent and the New Statesman, explaining how the new leader would energise the youth vote and bring forward a new kind of politics. While many commentators questioned Corbyn's actions, Young wrote about how his policies would work and be hugely popular. He harnessed the power of social media and is emerging as one of the most influential voices on the left for his generation and beyond. When the general election results of 2017 came through, he was not surprised by the surge in support for Corbyn's Labour. Rise is not only a superb insider account of how the youth movement in the Labour Party galvanised a nation that will appeal to readers of books by Owen Jones and Paul Mason, but it is also a manifesto for the future and a call to action for anyone who believes it should be possible to create a better Britain.

Based upon a wide range of UK and European survey sources, together with qualitative and policy-focused analyses, this volume explores the attitudes of young people to politics and government in Britain and assesses the prospects for re-engaging young people with the formal political process.