INSTITUTIONALISATION OF YOUTH POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN THE EU: A NEOLIBERAL ATTEMPT TO CASTRATE THE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE BALLOT BOX

Abstract. Young people are increasingly withdrawing from institutional and representative forms and turning to alternative political practices. This shift has also been declaratively recognised on the level of political institutions and representatives. This article examines how youth political participation is addressed in the institutional mechanisms for youth political participation in the EU and Slovenia. Using the Foucauldian analytics of government, we show that political participation emerged during the European integration processes with the student protests of 1968 and in the processes of institutionalisation via various governmental operations the critical and alternative voices of young people were shaken off. This is also reflected in contemporary mechanisms such as the EU Youth Dialogue on the level of the European Community and the Council of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth, where the analysis shows that institutional and representative forms of political action, especially elections, are privileged, whereas alternative youth activities are almost completely disregarded. At the same time, neoliberal rationality is shifting the responsibility for (non-)participation onto young people and attempting to create an identity of active (economic) citizens who will participate in an appropriate manner. Keywords: youth, participation, institutions, representation, analytics of government.