Youth and Earth Politics

'Everyone has been young at some point, but young people's perspectives, demands, and visions for the future are often neglected in global environmental governance. This is certainly the case for UN climate, biodiversity, and sustainability negotiations, although thousands of young people from across the global actively seek a place in these negotiations. In this Element, Amandine Orsini uncovers with great care common misperceptions of youth. Building on impressive amounts of original data and really giving voice to youth globally, she shows why we'd better pay attention to youth and their demands. A highly relevant and timely contribution that will be essential for researchers, policymakers, advocates, and anyone invested in the future of environmental decision-making.' Carola Klöck, Associate Professor, CERI, Sciences Po Paris
'Youth and Earth Politics makes a timely and important contribution by addressing a striking gap in the literature: despite constituting a substantial share of the global population—around 42 percent—youth have received remarkably limited scholarly attention in studies of global environmental governance. This Element convincingly demonstrates why that neglect is no longer tenable. Drawing on an exceptionally rich empirical foundation—including extensive fieldwork, interviews, and original longitudinal data—it challenges persistent misconceptions about youth as political actors. The Element shows that youth are not peripheral or symbolic participants, but engaged, knowledgeable, and strategically active agents in international negotiations. By unpacking how these misconceptions shape both scholarship and policy practice, it opens new avenues for understanding representation, participation, and power in global politics. This is a compelling and much-needed contribution that will resonate widely.' Marcel Hanegraaff, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam
'This timely volume by Amandine Orsini promises to be an agenda-setting contribution. Drawing on extensive research on youth engagement in Earth politics, this text challenges five common misconceptions about the political agency and actions of young people. In contrast to these common misconceptions, Orsini offers expansive and nuanced ways of thinking about young peoples' engagements in politics at multiple scales and calls for greater attention to the growing role of young people in planetary politics. This contribution provides an indispensable resource for the community of researchers examining youth and civil society engagement in global environmental politics. I look forward to using this book in my own teaching and research about young people and environmental politics.' Mark Ortiz, Assistant Professor of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University
'This is a timely and rigorous contribution to our understanding of youth participation in global environmental governance. Orsini's youth-centred methodology is particularly compelling. By treating young people as co-creators of knowledge and foregrounding their voices through direct quotations, she convincingly shows how 'youth as liminal actors would be well placed to bypass existing barriers of governance', with the potential to act as genuine 'game changers'. She builds on previous studies to address a major empirical gap, offering valuable insights into power, legitimacy, inclusion, and representation. The nuanced discussion of youth heterogeneity, and of the dangers of media narratives that over-focus on individual activists, will resonate with both scholars and practitioners. The call to recognise youth as heterogeneous and strategically sophisticated political actors whose practices and tolerance for difference within and beyond their ranks may offer lessons for other non-state actors seeking to build trust in an increasingly polarised world.' Harriet Thew, University of Leeds