A revisionist account of the crisis of the crisis of democracy and 'youth participation'

![CDATA[Observing how children and young people are marginalised in discussions about their citizenship and political rights and rendered invisible in formal decision-making forums is old news. Expressions of this ambiguous or marginal status can be seen in recurring paternalistic, and often clichéd, calls for ‘youth participation’ by governments and other authorities (European Commission, 2008; Ramberg, 2015). The relatively recent preoccupation with youth participation has been underpinned by two assumptions. The first is that certain kinds of youth participation are desirable and should be encouraged. Since the 1990s we have heard a chorus of calls by governments, world leaders, business entities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and professionals about the value, significance and vital role of youth participation in enhancing our democracy. Secondly, it has been assumed that youth participation, understood in electoral terms, was in decline, thereby placing liberal democracies at risk. At the same time, governments and some others who claim to support youth participation are not actually engaging in serious, sustained or authentic inclusion of young people in their deliberative and decision-making practices (Kwon, 2019; Bessant & Watts, in press). For example, as John Wall (2022) points out, most governments deny the vote to the one-third of humanity who are under 18 years old. Along with other substantial forms of political inclusion, preventing some citizens from voting is an exclusionary practice that cannot be described as ‘democratic’.]]