Partycypacja i reprezentacja. Głos młodych Europejczyków w kształtowaniu demokracji
Participation and Representation: The Voice of Young Europeans in Shaping Democracy

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the attitudes and expec‑tations of young Europeans towards thedemocratic system in the context of declin‑ing trust in political institutions. The aim ofthe discussion is to identify the reasons forthe observed criticism and to examine theextent to which the solutions proposed byyoung people (recommendations for policymakersand the education sector) focus ondeepening participation and increasing thetransparency of decision-making processes.The article presents the results of the YouthDemocracy Labs workshops organised aspart of the ActEU project (“Towards a newera of representative democracy: ActivatingEuropean citizens’ trust in times of crisesand polarisation”), which served to examinethe attitudes of young Europeans towards the democratic system and to develop theaforementioned recommendations. Basedon 17 workshops conducted in 10 EuropeanUnion countries, including Poland, the mainareas in which changes should be made wereidentified. The results indicate that youngEuropeans, although critical of institutions,remain committed to democratic values andwilling to participate actively in public life,provided that mechanisms conducive to thisare created. An analysis of the recommenda‑tions also reveals the specific local context,e.g. the strongly emphasised need in Polandfor civic education and the development ofdigital tools to facilitate civic participation.

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