We interview Judith Bessant and Rob Watts about their book, The Politics of Deception: Youth Political Participation in an Age of Global Crises
Our member, Prof. Judith Bessant (RMIT University, Australia), and her co-author, Prof. Rob Watts (RMIT University, Australia), talk about their new and open-access book, The Politics of Deception: Youth Political Participation in an Age of Global Crises (Routledge, 2026).
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Q: What is this book about?
The book is about how certain powerful and naturalised assumptions and ways of seeing are informed by adultism and how they shape our lives, identities and the relations between children, young people and older people.
It is an observation that involved us in recognising language is not neutral, and how particular age-based and other classifications are created and used to restrict or enhance different people’s socio-legal and political lives and rights.
It also involves observing how particular embedded dispositions and our identities or certain kind of human being – like being a child, ‘adult of ‘youth,’ which mean being inherently trustworthy, fully human, competent, etc. – are shaped by the contexts and institutions (schools, laws, families, etc.) that we in turn shape.
The book attempts to recognise and analyse what is happening around us in these respects, with the aim of turning ‘the obvious’ and ‘natural’ into ‘the strange’ and thereby provoking some positive changes to ‘our’ normal ways of thinking, feeling and acting.
We hope such a focus encourages greater clarity about the capacities and rights of children and young people to participate in politics and especially in decisions that affect them – and how such inclusive practice can enhance our democratic culture.
In these ways the book is an exercise in critical reflexivity about ‘our’ habitus that tends to escape our conscious mind.
Q: What made you write this book?
We wrote this book because we see value in a political system that is inclusive of all - including children and young people. This matters because such decision-making practice is important for good governance and because it enhances our relations with each other. While it is an ideal, coming close to such democratic practice matters. It helps prevent harms that result from the failure to recognize others – in this case children and young people – by according them the moral and social standing of a full person. Such a transformation is also important because it requires creating conditions for children and young people to be heard, seen, believed and genuinely involved in collective deliberation.
We also wrote this book because we noticed that while there has been much talk in recent decades about the value of youth political participation in government and many other institutions, something quite different was taking place. That is, too often what was described as youth political participation was a tightly managed exercise, informed by adultist worldviews. This process was also far from being entirely undemocratic, as young people actually got to shape the agenda and decisions or indeed have a positive experience of process.
We wrote this book because we know we can all do better. Identifying how that can be done is a good place to start.
An excerpt from the book:
In a time of global crises, governments, international agencies and various experts claim to promote political participation that is inclusive of children and young people. This book details how these so many of claims tend to be deceptive. The Politics of Deception demonstrates how youth parliaments, councils and roundtables are governance exercises not just designed and tightly managed by adults but limited by them. Informed by adultist ways of seeing, young people nsd children are represented as vulnerable and citizens-in-waiting and cannot be taken seriously as political agents.
Parallel to these formal initiatives, large numbers of young people are recognising the interconnected nature of contemporary crises, and mobilising politically in diverse ways, from street marches to digital action, to strategic litigation and ‘lying flat’ to push for equality, social justice and planetary survival.
Animated by optimism and recognition that intergenerational solidarity is essential for creating a future in which humans and ‘more-than-humans’ can flourish, we document how youth participation, as it is commonly practised, is deeply political, deceptive, highly contested and too often informed by outdated and harmful representations of young people.
It is a book written for young people, researchers, policy-makers, parents and educators who are interested in better understanding what is taking place in the world and in appreciating the value of recognising young people’s political capacity and right to help shape the world.