Increased voter turnout among youth in recent national elections notwithstanding, youth engagement in political life in the U.S. has been shown to be on the decline in recent years. This trend, as well as relatively low voter turnout in the U.S. among all age groups, makes this collection of articles on youth civic engagement and political development timely. Because democracy is by definition the rule of the people, what is it, these articles ask, that creates conditions for people in a democracy to exercise their power? Aside from electing individuals to public office, how is it that the many rather than the few become motivated and prepared to wield power?
Citizen-initiated social action of one sort or another has been important throughout U.S. history. Social movements like those for the rights of workers, women's suffrage, and Black Americans' civil rights, for instance, have been key in extending the benefits of democracy broadly in society. Understanding how to promote this kind of independent, citizen-initiated civic engagement is, therefore, a worthy object of consideration and study.
Power, roughly defined as the ability to act, is a prominent theme throughout most of these articles, both in terms of the processes and the outcomes of youth development activities. Evans' research suggests that voice and influence are necessary to connect youth to community in meaningful ways. Watts and Flanagan suggest that a "sense of agency" may be what moves people to become engaged as opposed to remaining "armchair activists." Morsillo and Prilleltensky contend that youth engaged in civic action should have the opportunity to engage in "empowering group processes" that allow them to articulate their own passions and determine how they will act upon them. Prilleltensky and Fox make the case that neither personal nor Jane Fleishman is the director of youth leadership development at Oasis Center, Inc. in Nashville. Oasis Center is a community-based non-profit organization that focuses on youth and their families.