Introduction: Youth Political Participation in a Transition Society

This special issue of Studies of Transition States and Societies focuses on youth political participation in Estonia. The articles explore diff erent dimensions of participation, providing examples of how politics is practiced by young people in a society that has undergone a relatively recent and substantial social, economic and political transformation: the shift from being an integral part of the Soviet Union to full membership of the European Union. This transition is refl ected in changing patterns of activism among Estonian youth and the nature of the issues with which they engage, with participation infl uenced by, one the one hand, the legacies of the communist period and, on the other, the challenge of living in contemporary Europe.