Youth to the Rescue: What Kind of Democracy Do Young People in Africa, Asia and Europe Want?

Three decades ago, democracy seemed like the unassailable winner. The fall of the Berlin Wall had prompted the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of autocracy in many Eastern and Central European societies. The rise of India as a superpower, and growing economic freedoms in China, seemed to pave the way for a new era of global liberal democracy. Multiparty systems and movements to protect human rights were spreading in Africa.

But progress ground to a halt and a malaise set it. Now, democracy is in crisis. Some of Africa’s fresh-faced democrats of the 1980s are still in power today. Contrary to liberal internationalist assumptions that a growing middle class would push for greater political freedoms, China’s communist party has deepened its grip on every aspect of citizens’ lives. India’s ruling party has been described as an “electoral autocracy” by the Swedish-based V-Dem Institute. Populism has swept through Europe and several former communist states have slipped away from democracy.