Routledge Governing Youth Politics in the Age of Surveillance (The Criminalization of Political Dissent)

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. Review "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."-Henry Giroux, Professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest, McMaster University, Canada"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."-Paddy Rawlinson, Associate Professor of International Criminology, Western Sydney University, Australia"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 sacralise youth but penalize young people. Truly essential!"-Marie-Christine Doran, Associate Professor, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada"Commitments in many countries to strengthening the political participation of young people, to combat the so-called democratic deficit, have been paralleled by the growth of ubiquitous surveillance of that behaviour. Youth political protest is, throughout the world, increasingly monitored and regulated. Grasso and Bessant’s important text documents these developments and demonstrates the importance of remaining on our guard, distinguishing the warm rhetoric of yo