ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Political Participation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1620587
This article is part of the Research TopicThe challenges of youth representation: normative perspectives and empirical evidenceView all 3 articles
Political Participation of Young People in Rural Eastern Germany: Empirical Findings, Structural Barriers, and Policy Implications
Provisionally accepted
- Deutsches Jugendinstitut, Munich, Germany
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This article examines the structural conditions and barriers of youth participation in rural regions of Eastern Germany. Combining quantitative data from the AID:A 2023 survey and qualitative case studies from municipal youth parliaments, the study investigates how spatial disparities, infrastructural challenges, and institutional frameworks shape young people's political engagement. The findings demonstrate that urbanity and age are decisive factors for politicization, while infrastructural deficits and a lack of binding participatory structures hinder sustainable youth participation in rural areas. The study emphasizes the need for targeted support measures, such as strengthening local youth organizations, improving mobility infrastructure, and fostering a culture of political recognition.
Keywords: Youth participation, rural areas, political engagement, East Germany, Structural inequality, youth parliaments, Spatial disparities, institutional exclusion
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fehser, Tillmann and Reißig. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Stefan Fehser, Deutsches Jugendinstitut, Munich, Germany
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