Comments on: It’s not a generational issue, it’s more important than that

By: EU politics 2.0: Getting the citizen into European democracy- Social Media For Political Campaigns

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:16:36 +0000

[...] of us are part of the Generation 2.0, but in the end this is more than a generational issue. We don’t want to accept the old top-down politics and we are trying to overcome a European [...]

By: Blog of Change » Political parties in liquid modernity

Blog of Change » Political parties in liquid modernity — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:48:18 +0000

[...] Worth says in one of his latest blog posts on a supposedly generational gap between political leaders and younger political [...]

By: Eurosocialiste

Eurosocialiste — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:24:22 +0000

As it’s one of my favorite topics, of course I couldn’t resist writing my take on it: http://eurosocialist.blogspot.com/2009/07/political-culture-of-generation-y-aka.html

By: french derek

french derek — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:34:55 +0000

Well, as a pre-WW2 baby, I’d hardly call myself young in age: but in thinking, I hope so? The problem Socialists have to deal with is that so many national parties don’t seem to have progressed in their ideas and ideals. eg, in France, they are still stuck in a 1968 rut; in Spain and the UK they can’t seem to think beyond the “single-industry” economic approach (finance, building) that each inherited . All of this “stickiness” seems to hold equally in the EU Parliament.

I’m not sure I agree with Jon’s view that younger politicians need to “play the long game” and hold themselves back a little. Sure, the party dinosaurs have all sorts of ways of obstructing change. But how did May 68 and so many Eastern Europe anti-USSR revolutions start?

By: Eurosocialiste

Eurosocialiste — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:59:02 +0000

The generational question is not only an age question. It’s not only about replacing the elders by the younger ones, that would be too easy. Many young ones still think like their parents did while some elder ones are able to understand the cultural changes younger generations bring in. Look at May 68. Not all young people were culturally liberal hippies! Some were conservative. They all had the same age though. Yet if you look at history, at that moment it’s the young progressive hippies, helped by their open-minded elders who won the ideological battle. So my point is, the generational question is more a cultural question than an age question. I do believe that the future of politics lies in openess, ethics and humility. There is a growing demand for it, but still not quite a satisfactory offer (apart from Obama).

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:48:41 +0000

@Julien – fair point. Perhaps it’s that the technological generation change just has not permeated politics enough yet, although at a personal level (among possible candidates) there are strong reasons for it *not* permeating.

By: Julien Frisch

Julien Frisch — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:44:51 +0000

I totally agree with you, although in some ways it is a generational issue: In our generation, people like us have the technical possibilities to remain active although classical party structures are not what attracts us.

This is why some of us – still a small elite – can express their position more freely than within the compromise-driven and promotion-oriented political environment the generations before us have to live with (if they don’t learn to us creatively use the opportunities the would have).

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:40:34 +0000

Yes, precisely… and whatever is done in legislative terms in the EP actually does not matter that much when it comes to how things are to be presented in 2014, as – sadly – EP elections are not really about analysing a party’s (or a group of parties’) records. The left needs to develop a convincing narrative, convincing leadership, and a convincing set of policies for the future, none of which they are currently doing in Brussels as all the MEPs in the group are thinking rather more in terms of their own immediate political careers.