Youth in Regime Crisis

How do political regimes respond to threats emanating from mobilisation carried by youth? This book seeks to understand regime resilience and breakdown by attending the concept of youth and analysing the public meaning of youth as well as the physical mobilization of young people. With a focus on youth mobilization in contemporary Russia, the book also aims at placing the Russian experience in its broader historical context. It does so by studying in addition the breakdown of the authoritarian Soviet Union during perestroika, the breakdown of unconsolidated democracy during the last years of the Weimar Republic, and the crisis of the democratic regime in France around 1968. The comparative analysis highlights how regimes which lacked popular support compensated their insufficient legitimacy by trying to mobilize youth symbolically and politically. The analysis also opens ways to think about current moments of crises and the role by played by youth.