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2014 ELECTIONS: Academics see spike in politically active young
GET INVOLVED: Academics said political engagement is on the rise among young people, who have learned from the Sunflower movement they can make change happen
By Wu Po-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The engagement of young people in politics has spiked in a continuance of a trend that originated during the Sunflower movement, academics said yesterday.
They urged young people to be engaged in politics not only at demonstrations, but also at the community level and to challenge politicians and political parties to bring about real change.
The Sunflower movement occupied the Legislative Yuan from March 18 to April 10 in a protest against the government’s opaque handling of the cross-strait service trade agreement.
Former National Taiwan University (NTU) dean Chao Yung-mao (趙永茂) said that the nation’s declining birth rate has affected the demographic structure — one of the highest determinants of election behavior.
According to Chao, the proportion of Taiwanese aged from 20 to 39 dropped by 16.5 percent from 1990 to 2010, from 57.5 percent to 41.04 percent.
The proportion of people over 40 has increased from 42.49 percent to 58.96 percent over the same period, Chao said.
“The difference in ideals and values between the generations — young people believing in criticism and change, while older people are more practical, conservative and motivated by profit — mean their attitudes on public matters diverge,” Chao said.
The younger generation is taking action on their ideas, as is evidenced by the Sunflower movement and Hong Kong’s Occupy Central movement, Chao said. Further evidence of the social activism of young people can be seen in the recent efforts by student groups to hire buses to transport first-time voters who have just reached legal age back to their hometowns to vote.
“This is evidence that the younger generation is becoming more concerned with public affairs,” Chao said.
A higher proportion of young people are starting to believe they can change things if they exert themselves, and it is a positive development for the nation’s democracy that they use the Internet to organize, National Chengchi University election study center assistant researcher Yu Chen-hua (俞振華) said.
Yu said that formerly candidates had always offered incentives for voters above 65 years old, but paid little attention to the younger generation due to their traditional lack of participation in elections.
Only by participating in politics can someone’s voice be heard, Yu said.
Chao portrayed the election as a struggle between the “air force,” represented by the idealistic younger generation, and the “army,” who are older and generally more traditional and conservative.
“Many consider the ballots of the younger generation to be more symbolic than having an actual impact on results, but parties should nonetheless be aware of the rise in idealism among the younger generation,” Chao said.
Politics should be a reflection of the different needs of society, and young people should not only demonstrate their commitment to politics on the streets, but also with community issues, Chao said.
Only by gaining an understanding of society as a whole can the younger generation become strong enough to challenge the political system, Chao said.
source: Taipei Times
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