Concerns exist that young citizens attach less importance to democracy compared to older citizens, yet comprehensive insight into how the young perceive and value democracy is scarce. Given that adolescence is a formative period for political attitudes, this is a pivotal life phase to examine how adolescents’ democratic support develops – especially in relation to education, which is an important driver of political attitudes. This study presents data from the Dutch Adolescent Panel on Democratic Values (DAPDV) study that follows adolescents during lower secondary education in the Netherlands. Findings reveal that Dutch adolescents largely embrace democratic values like freedom of speech, and support for representative or direct democracy. Interestingly, political and institutional trust show a decline, which can signal that support for politicians is not unconditional. From the beginning of secondary education, results show persistent educational differences in support for democratic values. This echoes existing educational cleavage in Dutch society regarding democratic support. These findings suggest that differences in democratic commitment manifest prior to secondary education and originate in students’ social and cultural backgrounds. The question remains whether secondary education perpetuates or diminishes these disparities, underlining the importance of future longitudinal research. |
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Artikel |
Jongeren over democratische waarden |
Trefwoorden | Democracy, Political socialization, Adolescence, Secondary education, Citizenship |
Auteurs | Laura Mulder, Paula Thijs, Frank Wanders e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Politieke Integriteitsaffaires in Nederland: de jaarlijkse Index |
Trefwoorden | Political integrity, Integrity violations, Integrity scandal, Integrity index |
Auteurs | Leo Huberts, Muel Kaptein, Bart De Koning e.a. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The integrity of politics and politicians plays a pivotal role in ensuring the quality of governance. Integrity is also an important value in societal discussions regarding that quality, as well as in research related to ‘good governance’. The public discourse concerning the integrity of politics often centers on the integrity scandals politicians are involved in. In academic research that topic is less prominent, which led to our research project in the Netherlands to gather data on integrity ‘scandals’. How frequently is the integrity of a politician publicly questioned, which political parties are implicated, and what types of integrity violations are mentioned? Since 2013, the Political Integrity Index project has been providing information about those topics. While this project has been covered in the Dutch media and in the journal Public Integrity, it has not been addressed in a Dutch scientific publication. This article provides an overview of the project, including a concise explanation of the conceptual framework and methodology employed. Additionally, it presents several new findings and offers some reflections on these findings. Given the relevance of political integrity scandals, it is hoped that the empirical information presented here will prove valuable for further research, not only in the Netherlands but also in other countries. |