We're not the Problem – Youth is the push for DEMOCRACY

On the last International Youth Day, celebrated this month, we – the youngest team members of Democracy International – are calling out the real obstacle to youth participation in democracy: it’s not a lack of interest. It’s a lack of access.

The issue isn’t a lack of energy, vision, or engagement. Young people care. We show up. We vote. We organise. We lead. But again and again, we’re dismissed as inexperienced or idealistic — reduced to stereotypes that we’re disengaged or don’t understand how things work.

What’s holding us back isn’t apathy — it’s power. More precisely: the way power is hoarded and protected by those who’ve held it for far too long.

Let’s be clear: the greatest barrier to youth participation is a specific kind of power-hoarder — mostly men who resist change and view equality as a threat. You don’t have to look far: Putin, Erdoğan, Lukashenka, Xi — autocrats who treat democracy not as a collective responsibility but as a danger to their control.

And it’s not just happening in authoritarian regimes. In liberal democracies, too, young people are often excluded — subtly, or not so subtly. Our voices are dismissed, and our demands ignored. We are told we’re too inexperienced, too idealistic, too young — when in fact, we are simply demanding to be taken seriously in shaping the world we will inherit.

These are not just personal frustrations. They are symptoms of a deeper democratic failure. Because democracy cannot survive if it doesn’t renew itself — and it cannot renew itself without young people.

A system that shuts out new voices, shields those in power, and discourages dissent is not stable — it’s stagnating. Democracy only works when it includes everyone equally. That means not just being invited to observe, but being expected to shape, decide, and lead.

And we already are. Across Europe, young people are turning frustration into action — when they’re given the tools to do so. 

We see that same drive in our own work. At Democracy Camp 2025, young people from across Europe will come together to connect, learn, and sharpen the skills needed to shape democratic futures on their own terms. They’re not waiting to be empowered.

This energy is real. It’s growing. But it’s not enough to applaud it from the sidelines. We want a seat at the table — and not just any table, but the one where decisions are made about the future we will live in. 

Josephine Schnee, Anna Proskurina & Lorenza De Luna.
Democracy International e.V