Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and Empirical Considerations

Chan, Tak Wing; Clayton, Matthew

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00620.x

Cited by 110 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…; Jusos 2011; Kercher 2011) als auch in der einschlägigen wissenschaftlichen Literatur (z.B. Chan/Clayton 2006;Steinberg et al 2009;Hart/Atkins 2011;Wagner et al 2012;Bergh 2013;Zeglovits/ Aichholzer 2014;Kritzinger/Zeglovits 2016;Merry/Schinkel 2016) die Frage im Raum, ob eine Wahlaltersenkung auf 16 Jahre ein geeignetes Mittel ist, dem zu begegnen. Einer der zentralen Punkte, die in diesem Zusammenhang diskutiert werden, ist, ob BürgerInnen unter 18 Jahren "reif" genug sind, sich an Wahlen zu beteiligen.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Reif für die Wahl? Stand und Struktur des politischen Wissens in Österreich: Ein Vergleich der 16- und 17-Jährigen mit anderen Altersgruppen

Johann

Mayer

2017

ozp

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Mature enough to vote?Level and structure of political knowledge in Austria: a comparison between 16 and 17 year olds and older segments of the population Abstract This article aims at exploring differences in the level and structure of political knowledge among citizens under the age of 18 and older segments of the population. It focuses on Austria, where the voting age in national elections was lowered to 16 in 2007. Drawing on data by the Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES), it is shown that 16 and 17 year olds know comparatively little about political actors and the Austrian parties' positions, but that they are nevertheless mature enough to take part in elections. Moreover, regarding citizens' political knowledge, Austrians are rather specialists than generalists, independent of the age group. The results have important implications, in particular for the political education of adolescents.

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Section: Introductionunclassified

Reif für die Wahl? Stand und Struktur des politischen Wissens in Österreich: Ein Vergleich der 16- und 17-Jährigen mit anderen Altersgruppen

Johann

Mayer

2017

ozp

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“…So why are not all citizens allowed to vote? 1 The main argument against lowering or abolishing the voting age is that young individuals, according to the proponents of the current voting age, typically lack the appropriate intellectual maturity and political knowledge for voting (see, e.g., Chan and Clayton [2006]). In this paper, motivated by recent evidence, I study if having the right to vote in itself can stimulate the acquirement of political knowledge, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To the best of my knowledge there have been two major contributions to this topic, Chan and Clayton (2006) and Wagner et al (2012), and they have reached completely different conclusions. Chan and Clayton (2006) used British survey data from the 1990s and 2001 to study the political interest and knowledge of different age groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rising to the Occasion? Youth Political Knowledge and the Voting Age

Rosenqvist¹

2017

Brit. J. Polit. Sci.

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU) is a research institute under the Swedish Ministry of Employment, situated in Uppsala. IFAU's objective is to promote, support and carry out scientific evaluations. The assignment includes: the effects of labour market and educational policies, studies of the functioning of the labour market and the labour market effects of social insurance policies. IFAU shall also disseminate its results so that they become accessible to different interested parties in Sweden and abroad. Terms of use: Documents inIFAU also provides funding for research projects within its areas of interest. The deadline for applications is October 1 each year. Since the researchers at IFAU are mainly economists, researchers from other disciplines are encouraged to apply for funding.IFAU is run by a Director-General. The institute has a scientific council, consisting of a chairman, the Director-General and five other members. Among other things, the scientific council proposes a decision for the allocation of research grants. A reference group including representatives for employer organizations and trade unions, as well as the ministries and authorities concerned is also connected to the institute. Papers published in the Working Paper Series should, according to the IFAU policy, have been discussed at seminars held at IFAU and at least one other academic forum, and have been read by one external and one internal referee. They need not, however, have undergone the standard scrutiny for publication in a scientific journal. The purpose of the Working Paper Series is to provide a factual basis for public policy and the public policy discussion. AbstractVoting is a fundamental human right. Yet, individuals that are younger than 18 do typically not have this right since they are considered uninformed. However, recent evidence tentatively suggests that the political knowledge of youths is endogenous to the voting age. I test for the existence of such dynamic adjustments utilizing voting age discontinuities caused by Swedish laws. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy on Swedish register data to estimate the causal effect of early age voting right on political knowledge around age 18. The results do not support the existence of positive causal effects of early age voting right on political knowledge. Thus, we should not expect that 16-year-olds respond by acquiring more political knowledge if they are given the r...

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“…Although age is not an exact marker of competence, it can be seen as a valuable proxy (Chan and Clayton 2006). Some people accept that age limits may be necessary, but criticise their arbitrary nature and want some changed.…”

Section: Minimum Ages Of Entitlement In Generalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Voting at 16 – Lessons for the Future from the Scottish Referendum

Hill¹,

Lockyer²,

Head³

et al. 2017

Scottish Affairs

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The 2014 Referendum on Scottish independence raised many issues about the future of Scotland. It also produced an innovation as regards the electoral process by making 16 years the minimum age of participation. This article examines issues surrounding the voting age and draws on a schools-based study, which shed light on teacher and pupil opinion about this lower than usual threshold for voting. It is also concerned with how schools cover the teaching of politics and prepared students for the Referendum debate within a context of expected neutrality on a highly divisive matter. Some implications of extending the lower voting age for future elections are discussed.

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Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and Empirical Considerations

Cited by 110 publications

References 16 publications

Reif für die Wahl? Stand und Struktur des politischen Wissens in Österreich: Ein Vergleich der 16- und 17-Jährigen mit anderen Altersgruppen

Reif für die Wahl? Stand und Struktur des politischen Wissens in Österreich: Ein Vergleich der 16- und 17-Jährigen mit anderen Altersgruppen

Rising to the Occasion? Youth Political Knowledge and the Voting Age

Voting at 16 – Lessons for the Future from the Scottish Referendum

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