Young People's Citizenship (Report‪)‬

Introduction Public and political debates concerning young people focus on their apathy about the political process and apparent disenfranchisement from civil society. Numerous programs and documents outline processes by which young people can be educated, groomed and brought on board for participation in political processes. Whilst non-citizenship is commensurate with the legal status of 14 to 18 year old young people it is less assured in terms of other understandings of citizenship which are more concerned with participation and identity. There are many models of citizenship ranging from the political and legal through to social and participatory citizenship. Most describe a citizenship of adults. Keane argues "civil society is established after the image of the civilised (European) male individual" (1988, p.21). Historically citizenship in medieval Europe was about men's membership of a city, a result of the system of autonomous administrations and courts. With the development of nation states this changed and citizenship became a relationship of adult (usually) men with the state (Weber 1958).