A major challenge in contemporary democracies is to ensure that elections remain representative in contexts of demographic change. What is the status of the inclusion of non-residents and non-citizens in the demos around the world? Which mechanisms drive the political participation of mobilized youth?

The panel discussion organised during the Geneva Democracy Week on 4 October explored these questions connected to the exercise of political rights in contemporary democracies.

Victoria Finn, Max Weber Fellow at European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and Maarten Vink, Chair in Citizenship Studies and Co-director of the Global Citizenship Observatory (GLOBALCIT) of the Robert Schuman Centre at the EUI discussed the drivers of enfranchisement with AHCD researchers Laura Bullon-Cassis, Maria Mexiand Yanina Welp in a panel moderated by Christine Lutringer.

The panelists discussed the data emerging from their ongoing research, on the one hand from the GLOBALCIT project on global dual citizenship acceptance and the enfranchisement of non-residents citizens and non-citizens residents, and on the other hand from the AHCD project on the connections between protests and formal democratic participation among the European youth.

The Geneva Democracy Week panel represented a milestone in the ongoing collaborative activities of GLOBALCIT and AHCD that were launched in 2021 and that already resulted in a joint project and a workshop in Florence.

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