Evaluating the Need for Democracy Assistance: Surveying Youth in Target Countries

It is well acknowledged that civil society is important for democratization and sustainability of democracy, and thus the great potential of young people in these processes cannot be neglected. New donors form CEE countries support young people in the Eastern Europe, Western Balkans, and in Georgia, however the question is whether young people indeed require such support. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate in the comparative perspective the interest, knowledge, and opinion of young people regarding public affairs, the political system, and democracy as well as their level of participation. For this purpose, the Youth Participation Survey was constructed and conducted in 2016 among 600 young people aged 18-21 in three target countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine. The survey questions were inspired by Parsons and Shils’ (1951), as well as Almond and Verba’s (1963) and by most the recent study by Diuk (2012). The paper offers some fascinating findings about young people in three recipient countries and to anyone interested in the political situation of these countries this chapter provides some insights into “next generation” that may lead to political change. The attitudes, knowledge and participation of young people from the partner countries will be compared with those from young donor countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.  For the statistical analysis, the paper will also use data from V-Dem.