Evasive Youth, Oblique Politics

Abstract

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Demographic Change and Political Order in Sub-Saharan Africa: How Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda Deal with Youth Bulge and Politicized Migration

“…To the extent that the Youth Bulge might create a huge potential of mostly unemployed young men, it was considered to also result in political instability, provide a potential for rebel movements or cause revolution (Flückiger & Ludwig, 2018;Goldstone, 2002;Urdal, 2012). There has been some speculation why the Arab Spring did not spill over to African regimes, and the economically and politically frustrated youth did not go to the streets to demand change (Oinas et al, 2018;Cavatorta and Bonci, this volume). In exceptional circumstances, such as in Senegal in 2012, by staging mass protests in the capital city Dakar, youth mobilization was instrumental in obstructing a manipulative constitutional amendment (which would have allowed for a quasi-monarchical succession).…”

“…Population changes have ramifications within and beyond the confines of the state but the mechanisms by which such changes influence domestic political order, democracy, peace and security have not been thoroughly explored (as an exception Green, 2012). The African Youth emerged as a "powerful category" (Oinas et al, 2018: 2) at the turn of the millennium and gained currency within debates about development, social policies and migration (Abbink, 2005). Even though there have been incidents of intergroup conflict in some countries, which were related to youth protests or internal and international migration, this has not been subject of major scholarly interest.…”