Rejuvenating international relations: Rethinking the social interpretation of youth to advance the global governance agenda

Abstract

Global climate politics, marked by youth marches led by Greta Thunberg, reactions by important political figures such as President Donald Trump, nearly four times her age, and the landmark litigation action by Swiss elderly women, are potential illustrations of the global politics of age. Yet, the explicit conceptualisation of age groups has so far been neglected in mainstream international relations (IR). To fill this gap, this article takes the example of the youth age group to illustrate how the lack of reflection on age conceptualisations has led to the dominance of limited frames and practices in IR. The contribution starts by reconstructing the conceptual youth frames present in mainstream IR, showing how they have evolved around three frames: youth as (1) victims, (2) risks, and (3) potential. A more recent conceptualisation of ‘youth as stakeholders’ has emerged inspired by dynamics in the climate and security domains. However, the second section, building on the social interpretation of youth approach, details the limits of such conceptualisations that have conceived youth in a passive way, as recipients of policies. As a response, the third section develops a complementary conceptualisation of youth in IR, as agents, and explains what it entails for the global governance agenda.