Interview, Lecture
Will young people let democracy die?
- A 2023 Open Society Foundations survey covering 30 countries reveals a significant generational divergence in democratic support: while 86% of all respondents prefer a democratic state, only 57% of 18–35-year-olds hold this view compared to 71% of those over 55.
- A sizable minority of young people (18–35) in the U.S. (43%) and elsewhere suggested that military rule or leaderless governance without elections could be a preferable system.
- Cambridge University research indicates that younger generations are less satisfied with democracy at their current life stage than their predecessors were at the same age, marking the first generation where a majority expressed such dissatisfaction in their 20s and 30s.
- The "satisfaction gap" manifests differently by region:
- In mature democracies (Europe, US, UK), the divide is driven by an intergenerational life opportunity gap regarding income and job availability.
- In transitioning democracies (Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Asia), it stems from "transition fatigue," where youth are disillusioned by democratic elites' failure to deliver promised reforms.
- In Spain, a 50-year-old democracy, 36-year-old residents like Iñaki express dissatisfaction with the system's ability to meet their needs, contrasting with older generations (like his mother Begoña) who remember the military dictatorship under Francisco Franco and value the current freedoms.
- Disenchanted electorates are increasingly mobilizing for populist leaders on both the left and right who offer short-term economic "sugar rushes" (tax cuts, spending, stimulus) to gain support.
- Short-termism among populist governments often leads to crises one to three terms later, causing satisfaction with democracy and the leader to decline rapidly after initial gains.
- While young voters are more likely to support populists than centrists in the short term, this trend risks weakening democratic institutions through the gradual erosion of checks and balances by anti-system actors.
- The primary future threat to democracy is not a mass refusal to vote by youth, but rather "democratic antipathy"—apathy that allows would-be autocrats to undermine democratic fabric without resistance.