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Childhood, Politics and Ambiguity

Towards an Agenda for Children’s Political Inclusion

University College Northampton

Lisa Harrison

University of West of England

Ian Buchanan

Open University

This article examines the relationship between children, young people and the world of politics. Whilst the past decade or so has seen the development of initiatives that draw children within the political sphere, there are powerful political and social forces that position children as dependent subalterns and thus exclude them from political participation.We address this ambiguous situation by referring to competing discourses on childhood: the discourse on children’s needs that foregrounds their transitional social status and an imperative to protect, and a set of ideas that revolves around children having collective ‘interests’ that require political articulation. In drawing out these competing discourses, the article addresses a range of ‘inclusive’ policies at global, national and local levels.

Key Words: childhood • interests • needs • participation • politics

Sociology, Vol. 38, No. 1, 81-99 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038504039362


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