National youth program
participation of young people in society includes all activities in various fields of
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Croatia 2009 National Youth Program
5.1. Situation analysis
Active participation of young people in society includes all activities in various fields of everyday life which contribute to social integration of youth (Ilišin, 2003). Young people are approached in two mutually complementary ways, perceived as ‘‘young people as resources’’ and ‘‘young people as problems’’. Young people as resources are perceived as a kind of social capital to which conditions for optimal development must be ensured. They are therefore not treated only as a future, but also as a present force, exactly due to their youth. In stable societies with economic growth, young people are primarily perceived as a resource (Ilišin, 2003). The tradition of perceiving young people as problems emphasizes their sensitive stage of development due to which the society must implement numerous protective measures (Ilišin, 2003), but irrespective of prevailing manner of perceiving young people, they must be perceived as active society members. It is necessary to strengthen young people constantly for human rights and democratic citizenship, which is recognized in Europe and stimulated through the so-called active citizenship. The existing County Youth Action Programs, regarding active participation of youth in society, management and decision-making processes, indicate the following basic problems: • distrust towards political system and government institutions by youth • distrust towards youth by political institutions and society • insufficient coordination and co-operation between youth associations and initiatives • insufficient inclusion into decision-making processes • insufficient encouragement to youth activism • insufficient encouragement to voluntary work and inclusion of young people into the work of associations and initiatives and civil society development. It is important to persist on the shift of public awareness regarding the importance of active youth participation, and on opening social and political space for actions of young people, informing and education of youth for participation in democratic society and improvement of co-operation between public and civil sectors. It is necessary to encourage the participation of youth without exception, which includes enabling the participation to all young persons. According to the survey from 2006 by Vlasta Ilišin on participation of youth in local and regional government institutions in Croatia, there is significant underrepresentation of youth in formal political decision-making bodies. On one hand, young people (aged 18–29) make around 21% of electorate in the Republic of Croatia, and on the other, only 6.3% of local and regional representative and executive bodies members are under 29 years of age. Croatian situation regarding the representation of youth in authorities does not significantly differ from the situation in other European countries. However, such situation additionally reduces the likelihood that issues and problems of interest to youth will be put on the agenda of public policies. 190 In addition to the mentioned problem of underrepresentation, the survey indicates several other subproblems. Poorer representation of youth in executive authority bodies (county and town administration) in comparison with representative bodies (city councils, county assemblies). In particular, 84.6% of all young people in local authorities are members of representative bodies, and only 15.4% of executive bodies. This makes us conclude that, even when involved in the work of authority bodies, young people participate in those institutions which have less power/influence. There is poorer representation of young people under 25 years of age (only 18.8% of all young people in local authorities is under 25 years of age). There is poorer representation of young women (27.3% of all young people in local authorities are women). A significant contribution to an increase in the representation of young people in formal institutions may be made by political parties through the introduction of internal party quotas in electoral lists, and by youth branches of parties through stronger positioning within the parties. European countries are aware of the insufficient political participation of youth and are trying to stimulate it in several different ways. The main form of youth participation on local, regional and national levels are youth councils, and in some countries also youth parliaments (Ilišin, 2003). Coordination bodies have also been established. In addition, wider important information from and for youth is being systematized and various campaigns for increasing political youth participation are being implemented, and there are efforts to stimulate their participation in public discussions. In the research of Croatian party elite conducted by Ilišin (Ilišin, 2003), Croatian politicians most often reported as a reason for low representation of younger politicians the fact that older persons do not want to give their places over to young persons, especially on candidate electoral lists and that in parties most frequently the principles of seniority and party credits are applied. It is interesting that among numerous inequalities in society, young persons perceive generational inequality as the least expressed, while, on the other hand, three fifths of them consider that young people are politically marginalized, which indicates that they do not consider the political status to be an integral part of the overall generational social status (Ilišin, 2003). As the main obstacle to political participation of youth, mutual distrust between youth and political institutions is reported, and first of all it is necessary to find the reasons for such distrust and the ways to mitigate it. In relation to the field of voting rights from the age of 16, a survey conducted in Great Britain (How old is old enough?, 2003) showed that even young persons themselves have different opinions about the question at which age they should get the right to vote in the elections. The survey included questions on whether the possible change should relate to different levels of choice and whether all young persons in a certain age group should have the voting right. For example, in Germany young people at the age of 16 in several provinces have voting rights in local elections, but not on regional and national levels, while in Slovenia, young persons of the same age may vote only if they are employed. In Austria, the lower age limit for voting is 16, and in Italy, one may vote for the Senate at the age of 25. The mentioned British survey shows that young persons (18–25) are equally inclined to volunteer and informal social work as older citizens, that they are not usually interested in politics, in part because they consider politicians are not enough interested in problems of youth, but also in some other social problems, and because they do not see any significant ideological differences 191 between the members of different parties. The fact that the biggest drop in the rate of voting most commonly show young persons for whom this would be their second voting, probably because after the first voting they concluded that their vote had no influence on politics, is worrying. Data on countries or regions where the limit of opportunities for voting has been lowered are still insufficient for making more general conclusions. It is necessary to give youth a more appropriate education on political processes and to assess their knowledge and motivation for participation in the elections and for other forms of political participation. It is also necessary to include them in solving social problems actual and relevant for them. Within this process, young persons should be familiarized with political acting as one of the ways for solving the problems they are familiar with. Looking through different prisms of ‘‘young people as resources’’ and ‘‘young people as problems’’, in relation to volunteering issues, it is visible that volunteering may be perceived as an activity through which young persons may contribute to society, but on the other hand, it is an activity through which the society may protect young persons by developing their self- esteem and the knowledge of the possibility of exercising their own influence on the society. One of the organized forms of such activities is work in associations. The literature (Policy Options for Civil Society through Complementary Contrasts, 1995) mentions the ways in which deeply rooted organization networks and institutions, mediating between citizens and state, might be organized. Such organizations have several roles. One of them is ensuring funds for expressing and active answering to various and complex society needs. Their other role is motivating individuals to behave as active citizens in all aspects of society rather than to depend on state power and benefits. It is also necessary to promote pluralism and diversity in society. This may be done through protecting and strengthening cultural, ethical, religious, linguistic and other identities. In addition, it is necessary to create alternatives to centralized state agencies in order to ensure services with greater independence and flexibility. Membership in some organization gives people an opportunity to participate in wider society and may significantly contribute to personal identity development, which is Download 0.9 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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