When Standby Citizens Step In: The Role of Institutional Factors in Triggering Youth Political Participation

Accusations of political passivity are often directed towards citizens, especially the youth. This study challenges the prevailing narrative by exploring the latent dimensions of political participation, and in particular the role of ‘standby citizens’, that is, those who are politically interested yet non-participatory. We propose that these individuals engage in behavioural activism when they perceive governmental actions as failing to meet their needs and demands. To test this hypothesis, we utilized a longitudinal sample of adolescents, classifying them into four distinct groups: active, standby, unengaged and other. We examined the transitions between these groups over time. Our findings indicate that standby adolescents are significantly more likely to shift towards active participation and less likely to become completely disengaged. Specifically, those who moved from standby to active status reported a significant decline in satisfaction with government performance over time, while their counterparts who remained in the standby mode did not show such changes.