This edited volume offers a critical, thorough, and interdisciplinary examination of arguments for eliminating the minimum democratic voting age. As children and youth increasingly assert their political voices on issues such as climate change, gun legislation, Black Lives Matter, and education reform, calls for youth enfranchisement merit further academic conversation. Leading scholars in childhood studies, political science, philosophy, history, law, medicine, and economics come together in this collection to explore the diverse assumptions behind excluding children from voting rights and why these are open to question. While arriving at different and sometimes competing conclusions, each chapter deconstructs the idea of voting as necessarily tied to age while reconstructing a more democratic imagination able to enfranchise the third of humanity made up by children and youth. Thus, this book defines and establishes a new field of academic study and public debate around children's suffrage.
Chapter “The Reform that never happened: a history of children's suffrage restrictions” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Author(s): John Wall
Series: Studies in Childhood and Youth
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 231
City: Cham
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction: Children’s Suffrage Studies
The Intellectual Context
The Conversation Today
The Present Volume
References
Part I: Theoretical Frameworks
Chapter 2: Silence Is Poison: Explaining and Curing Adult “Apathy”
The Germ
Metastasis
Training for Incompetence
Institutional Adultism
The Cure
The Small Picture: Empowered Individuals
The Medium Picture: Effective Group Activism
The Big Picture: Robust Democracy with a Strong Civil Society
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: How Low Can You Go? The Capacity to Vote Among Young Citizens
Introduction
Step 1: Lowering the Voting Age
Austria
Why Not Abandon Age Limits?
The Question of Incapacity
The Question of Capacity
Abandoning the Voting Age
The Benefits of Universal Enfranchisement
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: The Case for Children’s Voting
Learning from History
Deconstructing Voting Competence
Reconstructing Democratic Societies
Reimagining Democratic Theory
Conclusion
References
Part II: Historical Contexts
Chapter 5: The Enfranchisement of Women Versus the Enfranchisement of Children
Introduction
They Are Not Competent
They Don’t Want It
They Don’t Need It
They Are Better Off Without It
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: De-Colonizing Children’s Suffrage: Engagements with Dr B R Ambedkar’s Ideas on Democracy
Brief Sketch About Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar
What Is a Democracy?
Who Is a Minority? Who Should be Allowed to Vote?
Applying Ambedkar’s Ideas to Children
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: The Reform that Never Happened: A History of Children’s Suffrage Restrictions
Introduction
Background
Historicising Suffrage Reforms
Institutional Barriers: Change and Dependencies
Policy Barriers: Child Rights, Democracy, and Youth Policy
Political Barriers: Actors and Issues in the Centre and on the Periphery
Concluding Discussion
References
Part III: Practical Considerations
Chapter 8: Generational Economics
Politics and Social Choice Without Children
Children and Generationality
Positive Freedom and Low Fertility
Children’s Poverty
Investing in Children: Mill’s Dilemma
The Rosmini-Vote Solution: Children’s Proxy-Vote
What Italians Think About the Political Representation of Children and the Proxy-Vote
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Legality of Age Restrictions on Voting: A Canadian Perspective
History of the Franchise in Canada
Voting Rights Litigation
Impact of International Law and Experience
Competent and Informed Voters
Children’s Activism
Conclusion
References
Chapter 10: A View from Paediatric Medicine: Competence, Best Interests, and Operational Pragmatism
Introduction
Societal Change
Children in Society
Recognition of Child Rights
Child Rights within the Democratic Process
Early Influences and the Consequences of Witholding the Vote from Children
Insights from Paediatric Medicine
The Development of the Speciality
The Emergence of Competence
The Best Interests of the Child
Moving beyond Protectionism and Paternalism
Lessons from Medical Research
The Benefits of Encouraging the Development of Child Autonomy in Healthcare
Operationalising a Child Vote
The Distinction between the Right to Vote and Ability to Cast a Vote
Proxy Votes
Wider Benefits and Practical Considerations
Conclusions
References
Index
