Youth Participation and Democracy in South Asia

Young people in South Asia and in particular Sri Lanka are disillusioned with both mainstream and alternative spaces for political action says K.Guruparan speaking at the International Conference on Youth and Democracy in South Asia in Pune, India.

Guru was presenting a paper on youth participation in decision making and policy making processes using Sri Lanka as a case study. He goes on to say that there is a need to provide access to institutions and to set in place mechanisms through which youth participation, can be ensured. He warns that such institutions should not be tokenistic as if they are, it would be insufficient to address the feeling of alienation by young people. He goes on to argue the unwillingness to accept the concept of youth participation by the “adult political bureaucratic culture” of south Asian democracies is linked with larger problems of democratization in these countries which has resulted in youth unrest and violence which further slows the process of democratization.

A video excerpt from his speech is now available on YouTube (and included below). The complete paper can be downloaded here.

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