Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in the role of young people in fragile and conflict settings. While policy discourses have predominantly focused on the perceived risks to stability in countries with large youth populations (Urdal, International Studies Quarterly 50:607–629, 2006) and high levels of youth unemployment (Cincotta, Environmental Change and Security Program Report 13:10–18, 2008), others have emphasised that young people can make a significant contribution to peace and post-conflict reconstruction (Agbiboa, Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 10:30–45, 2015). In December 2015 the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, which calls for the participation of young people in all relevant processes aimed at bringing peace and stability, and may create momentum for supporting the participation of young people in peacebuilding. While there is an emerging literature on everyday youth activism that emphasises the constructive role that young people can play in their communities (Berents and McEvoy-Levy, Peacebuilding 3:115–125, 2015), few of these studies are situated in fragile and conflict-affected settings. This chapter addresses this gap by analysing the everyday tactics and strategies with which young people respond to living in an insecure environment, and their motivations for being active citizens.
Wignall, Ross
Department of Social Sciences
Year of publication: 2022Date of RADAR deposit: 2022-12-09
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