Speaker: Gabriele Vogt

Abstract

Aging Democracies, Silent Youth: How Population Aging Impacts
Political Participation in Japan and the Asia-Pacific

Gabriele Vogt and Yosuke Buchmeier

This paper examines how demographic aging reshapes democratic participation through focusing on the political marginalization of youth in Japan, the world’s most aged society, and placing our findings in comparative perspective with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. We argue that Japan’s demographic transition has contributed to rising generational inequalities and declining youth engagement. Drawing, firstly, on comparative survey data for ten Asia-Pacific countries, we demonstrate a strong negative correlation between population aging and youth political participation. Super-aged Japan emerges with the lowest levels of political interest and self-efficacy among the young. Based on, secondly, original qualitative data from interviews with policymakers, activists, and experts in Japan, we identify structural barriers—including civic education deficits, a lack of deliberative spaces, and social taboos around political expression—that contribute to what we call a “socialization into powerlessness.” Rather than politically apathetic, Japan’s young generation is structurally disempowered. Addressing this democratic disenfranchisement is vital not only for re-engaging younger generations, but for preserving democratic legitimacy in aging liberal democracies worldwide.

Keywords: demographic aging; democratic legitimacy; intergenerational equity; youth political participation; political self-efficacy; Japan.

Short bio