Governing Youth Politics in the Age of Surveillance by Grasso, Maria; Bessant, Judith;

Short description:

This ground-breaking volume documents and interprets the many ways contemporary governments and agencies now routinely use various techniques to repress and criminalize political dissent. While the ‘need’ to enhance ‘youth political participation’ is promoted, the cases in this book document how states are using everything from surveillance

Long description:

Drawing on case studies from around the world, contributors to this ground-breaking book explore a major contemporary paradox: on the one hand, young people today are at the forefront of political campaigns promoting social rights and ethical ideas that challenge authoritarian orders and elite privileges. On the other hand, too many governments, some claiming to be committed to liberal-democratic values, social inclusion and youth participation are engaged in repressing political activities that contest the status quo.

Contributors to this book explore how, especially since 9/11, governments, state agencies and other traditional power holders around the globe have reacted to political dissent authored by young people. While the ‘need’ to enhance ‘youth political participation’ is promoted, the cases in this book document how states are using everything from surveillance, summary offences, expulsion from universities, ‘gag laws’ and ‘antiterrorism’ legislation, and even imprisonment to repress certain forms of young people’s political activism. These responses diminish the public sphere and create civic spaces hostile to political participation by any citizen.

This book forms part of The Criminalization of Political Dissent series. It documents and interprets the many ways contemporary governments and agencies now routinely use various techniques to repress and criminalise political dissent.

"Governing Youth in the Age of Surveillance may be one of the best books available documenting and analysing how the war on youth has become an international issue. Global in its reach, intellectually brave, and theoretically unsettling, this is a book that everyone should read if they are concerned about what is happening to youth in a world in which authoritarianism is on the rise. But there is more at work here than an insightful, if not brilliant critical analysis, there is also a language of resistance, hope, and a call for the renewal of public spheres that give democracy some substance and hope for the future."

"This timely edition of critical essays analyses political (re)action and resistance from young people to the growing inequality and injustices of neoliberal societies, and the state’s intensified effort at suppressing them through increased surveillance. From the criminalisation of Muslim youth in Britain and Kenya, the repression of student protest in Canada and Malaysia, and sexual identity in Russia, to the silencing of dissent in Spain and constricting of young women’s politics in India, this collection of essays provides both a warning, and hope for the future. These eclectic studies of what Mandela described as ‘the heroism of youth’ provide a crucial book for challenging times."

"Mai ‘68, Puerta del Sol, Chilean, Maple and Arab Springs…Youth politics has always been a driving force of democratization and emancipation. The quelling of this force of change by attempts to depoliticize and criminalize it is much less known and discussed. The indispensable Grasso and Bessant’s Youth Politics in the Age of Surveillance sheds light on evolving strategies from governments that s

Table of Contents:

Part I: Dissent and Democratic Practice  1. Governing Youth Politics in the Age of Surveillance, Judith Bessant and Maria Grasso  2. Theorising Student Protest, Liberalism and the Problem of Legitimacy, Rob Watts  Part II: Youthful Protest and Repressive Law  3. Panic Works: the ‘Gag Law’ and the Unruly Youth in Spain, Kerman Calvo and Martín Portos  4. Controlling Dissent through Security in Contemporary Spain, Laura María Fernández de Mosteyrín and  Pedro Limón López  5. 'Proxy Repression'? The Causes Behind the Change of Protest Control Repertoire by the Université Du Québec À Montréal during the 2015 Student Strike, Luc Chicoine  6. Governing, Monitoring and Regulating Youth Protest in Contemporary Britain, Sarah Pickard  Part III: Antiterror Legislation and the Youthful Other  7. Surveillance of young Muslims and counterterrorism in Kenya, Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen  8. On Becoming ‘Radicalised’: Pre-emptive Surveillance and Intervention to Save the Young Muslim in the UK, Vicki Coppock, Surinder Guru and Tony Stanley  9. Active Citizenship and Governmentality: The Politics and Resistance Of Young Muslims In The Security State, Anisa Mustafa  Part IV: Resisting and Creating New Public Spheres  10. What Future for Young People’s Artistic Activism?, Jane McDonnell  11. Effects of the Regime in Malaysia on Youth Political Participation, Norhafiza Mohd Hed  12. Russian Politics of Radicalisation and Surveillance, Anna Schwenck  13. Biocultural Metrics and the Moral Policing of Young People’s Politics in Contemporary India, Pramod K. Nayar  14. Surveillance and the Student: Government Policing of Young Women’s Politics, Paromita Sen  15. Electora