Publicação
Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do
| Resumo: | This article investigates the experiences with and expectations towards politics of Brussels-based youngsters living in socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. Drawing on six focus groups, we detail how young people understand political representation—whether, how, when, and by whom they feel represented. The analysis centres on youth’s lived experiences with politics, analyses their conceptions of political representation, and unpacks the normative beliefs and expectations that underpin their accounts. Specific attention is paid to how Brussels youth articulate the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation, and whom they conceive as preferable descriptive representatives. In response to widespread feelings of misrepresentation, young people frequently put forward the figure of a “cultural broker”: a locally rooted intermediary expected to translate everyday community experiences of precarity and discrimination into political voice. Conceived as an alternative to conventional political actors—widely perceived as socially distant and insufficiently attuned to their lived realities—this figure nonetheless reproduces enduring dilemmas of representation related to selection, accountability, and legitimacy. Its appeal thus signals not participants’ rejection of representative democracy as such, but a demand for representatives who are socially proximate and experientially knowledgeable and can correct epistemic injustices. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Severs, Eline |
| Outros Autores: | Meyvaert, Kevin |
| Assunto: | cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | unknown |
| Instituição associada: | Cogitatio Press |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Politics and Governance |
| _version_ | 1869072356774772736 |
|---|---|
| author | Severs, Eline |
| author2 | Meyvaert, Kevin |
| author2_role | author |
| author_facet | Severs, Eline Meyvaert, Kevin |
| author_role | author |
| country_str | PT |
| creators_json_txt | [{\"Person.name\":\"Severs, Eline\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Meyvaert, Kevin\"}] |
| datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv | Severs, Eline Meyvaert, Kevin |
| datacite.rights.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv | cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv | Severs, Eline Meyvaert, Kevin |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv | application/pdf |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11997 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv | eng |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv | Cogitatio Press |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| dc.rights.rights.copyright.fl_str_mv | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| dc.source.none.fl_str_mv | Politics and Governance; Vol 14 (2026): The Representative Disconnect in Contemporary European Democracies 2183-2463 10.17645/pag.i492 |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv | cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| dc.title.fl_str_mv | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 |
| description | This article investigates the experiences with and expectations towards politics of Brussels-based youngsters living in socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. Drawing on six focus groups, we detail how young people understand political representation—whether, how, when, and by whom they feel represented. The analysis centres on youth’s lived experiences with politics, analyses their conceptions of political representation, and unpacks the normative beliefs and expectations that underpin their accounts. Specific attention is paid to how Brussels youth articulate the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation, and whom they conceive as preferable descriptive representatives. In response to widespread feelings of misrepresentation, young people frequently put forward the figure of a “cultural broker”: a locally rooted intermediary expected to translate everyday community experiences of precarity and discrimination into political voice. Conceived as an alternative to conventional political actors—widely perceived as socially distant and insufficiently attuned to their lived realities—this figure nonetheless reproduces enduring dilemmas of representation related to selection, accountability, and legitimacy. Its appeal thus signals not participants’ rejection of representative democracy as such, but a demand for representatives who are socially proximate and experientially knowledgeable and can correct epistemic injustices. |
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| format | article |
| id | pg_b665ee94139f17cd9e992ebfb5fb8739 |
| identifier.doi.fl_str_mv | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11997 |
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| person_str_mv | Severs, Eline Meyvaert, Kevin |
| publishDate | 2026 |
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| spelling | en-USRepairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will DoSevers, ElineMeyvaert, Kevincultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politicsCopyright (c) 2026 Eline Severs, Kevin Meyvaerthttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11997DOIhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/11997URLHasVersionhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/11997/5144URLHasVersionhttps://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/downloadSuppFile/11997/5615URLHasVersionhttps://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11997DOI2026-06-24en-USThis article investigates the experiences with and expectations towards politics of Brussels-based youngsters living in socio-economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. Drawing on six focus groups, we detail how young people understand political representation—whether, how, when, and by whom they feel represented. The analysis centres on youth’s lived experiences with politics, analyses their conceptions of political representation, and unpacks the normative beliefs and expectations that underpin their accounts. Specific attention is paid to how Brussels youth articulate the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation, and whom they conceive as preferable descriptive representatives. In response to widespread feelings of misrepresentation, young people frequently put forward the figure of a “cultural broker”: a locally rooted intermediary expected to translate everyday community experiences of precarity and discrimination into political voice. Conceived as an alternative to conventional political actors—widely perceived as socially distant and insufficiently attuned to their lived realities—this figure nonetheless reproduces enduring dilemmas of representation related to selection, accountability, and legitimacy. Its appeal thus signals not participants’ rejection of representative democracy as such, but a demand for representatives who are socially proximate and experientially knowledgeable and can correct epistemic injustices.Cogitatio Pressapplication/pdfen-USPolitics and Governance; Vol 14 (2026): The Representative Disconnect in Contemporary European Democracies2183-246310.17645/pag.i492engjournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501literatureVoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| spellingShingle | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do Severs, Eline cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| status | SINGLETON |
| status_str | VoR |
| subject.fl_str_mv | cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| title | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| title_full | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| title_fullStr | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| title_full_unstemmed | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| title_short | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| title_sort | Repairing Urban Youth’s Political Disengagement: Why Not Just Any Representative Will Do |
| topic | cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| topic_facet | cultural brokers; democratic attitudes; descriptive representation; misrepresentation; political representation; representative democracy; urban youth; youth and politics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.11997 |
| visible | 1 |