A NEW AND YOUNG HOPE?: HOW YOUTH-LED MOVEMENTS IMPACT YOUTH POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN POST-GE14 MALAYSIA

Abstract

This exploratory study aims to provide a descriptive account to explain the rise of youth-led movements, as well as the role of youth-led movements in promoting youth political participation in Malaysia ever since the 14th General Elections. Using a series of in-depth,semi-structured interviews with 18 participants in youth-led movements across 6 different movements/organisations, this study develops a framework that explains the role of youth-led movements in driving youth political participation through three crucial themes – (i) Affective factors that influence a young person’s decision to participate in youth-led movements; (ii) Enabling factors leveraged by youth-led movements to drive engagement among young people; and (iii) Constraining factors that hinder the sustainability of a youth-led movement. The findings of this study contribute to the larger question of declining youth political participation in other countries and offer theoretical, methodological, as well as policy insights to address this question.