Why in the News
Young people are leading a wave of protests across Europe against economic inequality and poor living standards. The triggers differ by country: a housing crisis in Spain, problems in the education system in France and anger over perceived corruption in Serbia and Albania. The question is whether this reflects a generational anxiety that youth will be worse off than their parents.
What is the current wave of youth protests?
- What it is: A wave of youth-led protests demanding better schools, jobs and living conditions. In France, a mid-September school protest over teacher shortages became a national movement on inequality and the cost of living.
- Echo of 1968: Like the May 1968 Paris revolt, it began with students and widened into a broader revolt.
- A withdrawing state: In 1968, protesters pushed an expanding welfare state further left. Today, youth demand basic facilities from a state cutting its services, a shift one view calls a crisis of neoliberalism (shrinking the state in favour of markets).
- The takeaway: The 1968 generation wanted more freedom; this generation wants a future.
Why do young people expect a worse future?
- Youth unemployment: Among French workers under 25, unemployment is slightly above 20%. Living costs rise, real wages (pay adjusted for inflation) fall and public spending is cut.
- Polycrisis mindset: Before their mid-twenties, today’s youth have lived through the 2008 financial crisis, COVID-19, climate disasters, war in Europe and now artificial intelligence (AI). Such overlapping crises are called a polycrisis.
- Evidence behind the pessimism: Inequality and the concentration of wealth and power are rising. Many young Europeans expect to do worse than their parents on housing, pensions and job security.
- AI and capital-intensive growth: AI threatens entry-level white-collar jobs, the first rung of the career ladder. It arrives amid stagnation, as growth turns capital-intensive, meaning it relies on machines more than workers.
Why is there a rift between youth and the political system?
- Age gap in politics: Politicians are far older than the population’s median age. An ageing majority of voters defends pensions even as schools decline.
- Ways of organising: Older institutions are hierarchical. Youth movements are leaderless.
- Social media: Constant comparison with peers and elites makes inequality visible and amplifies anxiety. The same platforms give youth tools to organise against illiberal regimes (governments that curb rights and freedoms) and the far right.
- Climate as generational injustice: Older generations contributed most to global warming, but the young will suffer most, which breeds resentment.
Can leaderless movements change policy?
- Leaderlessness as strength: Designated leaders become targets, so a leaderless movement is harder to break. Eg. Serbian protests lasted two years and democratically toppled a right-wing illiberal regime.
- Limits of the model: The old vanguard parties claimed to lead the masses with a clear ideology. These movements have no clear ideology, and success in one country may not carry over to another.
- A changed base: The movements unite students with a scattered precarious salaried class, meaning workers in insecure jobs, not with factory workers.
Challenges
- Ageing budgets: Rising pension and health costs of ageing populations leave less public money for schools, housing and young people.
- Unaffordable housing: Rents and house prices in many European cities have risen faster than young people’s pay. Eg. Spain’s housing protests.
- India’s own risk: India’s youth unemployment (ages 15 to 29) stays in double digits, so its young workforce could become a demographic trap of jobless youth instead of a demographic dividend that boosts growth.
Way Forward
- Labour-intensive growth: Governments should back sectors that absorb many workers, such as textiles and food processing, so growth creates jobs.
- Reskilling for AI: Fund apprenticeships and retraining for entry-level roles that automation is replacing.
- Investment in the young: Restore public spending on schools and affordable housing, the services the protests target.
Conclusion
Youth demands in Europe have moved from freedom from the state to protection by it. Whether governments answer with jobs, housing and schools, or treat the protests as a law-and-order problem, will decide whether anxiety turns into reform or resentment.
What is inclusive growth?
- About: Growth that is distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
- Intra-generational equity: Fairness within the present generation. Eg. In India, the top 1% of adults control almost 40% of net personal wealth, per the World Inequality Report.
- Inter-generational equity: Fairness across generations, so today’s growth does not leave future citizens poorer. Eg. Heavy borrowing today limits fiscal space for future welfare.
Matching Previous Year Question
“No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2014, GS3, 12 marks] Capitalism has guided the world economy to unprecedented prosperity. However, it often encourages shortsightedness and contributes to wide disparities between the rich and the poor. In this light, would it be correct to believe and adopt capitalism driving inclusive growth in India? Discuss.”
