Exploring Children's Suffrage: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ageless Voting

232 Pages·2023·4.018 MB·English

by  John Wall

STUDIES IN CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Exploring
Children’s
Suffrage
Interdisciplinary
Perspectives on
Ageless Voting
Edited by
John Wall
Studies in Childhood and Youth
Series Editors
Afua Twum-Danso Imoh
University of Bristol
Bristol, UK
Nigel Patrick Thomas
University of Central Lancashire
Preston, UK
Spyros Spyrou
European University Cyprus
Nicosia, Cyprus
Anandini Dar
School of Education Studies
Ambedkar University Delhi
New Delhi, India
This well-established series embraces global and multi-disciplinary schol-
arship on childhood and youth as social, historical, cultural and material
phenomena. With the rapid expansion of childhood and youth studies in
recent decades, the series encourages diverse and emerging theoretical and
methodological approaches. We welcome proposals which explore the
diversities and complexities of children’s and young people’s lives and
which address gaps in the current literature relating to childhoods and
youth in space, place and time. We are particularly keen to encourage writ-
ing that advances theory or that engages with contemporary global chal-
lenges. Studies in Childhood and Youth will be of interest to students and
scholars in a range of areas, including Childhood Studies, Youth Studies,
Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Politics, Psychology, Education,
Health, Social Work and Social Policy.
John Wall
Editor
Exploring Children’s
Suffrage
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ageless Voting
Editor
John Wall
Childism Institute
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Rutgers University Camden
Camden, NJ, USA
ISSN 2731-6467 ISSN 2731-6475 (electronic)
Studies in Childhood and Youth
ISBN 978-3-031-14540-7 ISBN 978-3-031-14541-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14541-4
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Chapter The reform that never happened: a history of children’s suffrage restrictions is
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C
ontents
1 Introduction: Children’s Suffrage Studies 1
John Wall
The Intellectual Context 5
The Conversation Today 10
The Present Volume 15
References 18
Part I Theoretical Frameworks 25
2 Silence Is Poison: Explaining and Curing Adult “Apathy” 27
Michael S. Cummings
The Germ 29
Metastasis 32
The Cure 36
Conclusion 44
References 45
3 How Low Can You Go? The Capacity to Vote Among
Young Citizens 47
Nick Munn
Introduction 47
Step 1: Lowering the Voting Age 48
Austria 49
v
vi CoNTENTS
Why Not Abandon Age Limits? 50
The Question of Incapacity 52
The Question of Capacity 54
Abandoning the Voting Age 57
The Benefits of Universal Enfranchisement 59
Conclusion 61
References 63
4 The Case for Children’s Voting 67
John Wall
Learning from History 68
Deconstructing Voting Competence 73
Reconstructing Democratic Societies 78
Reimagining Democratic Theory 82
Conclusion 85
References 86
Part II Historical Contexts 89
5 The Enfranchisement of Women Versus the
Enfranchisement of Children 91
David Runciman
Introduction 91
They Are Not Competent 93
They Don’t Want It 97
They Don’t Need It 101
They Are Better Off Without It 104
Conclusion 108
References 108
6 De-Colonizing Children’s Suffrage: Engagements with
Dr B R Ambedkar’s Ideas on Democracy 111
Anandini Dar
Brief Sketch About Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar 113
What Is a Democracy? 115
Who Is a Minority? Who Should be Allowed to Vote? 118
Applying Ambedkar’s Ideas to Children 123
Conclusion 127
References 128
CoNTENTS vii
7 The Reform that Never Happened: A History of
Children’s Suffrage Restrictions 131
Bengt Sandin and Jonathan Josefsson
Introduction 131
Background 133
Historicising Suffrage Reforms 134
Political Barriers: Actors and Issues in the Centre and on the
Periphery 143
Concluding Discussion 147
References 149
Part III Practical Considerations 153
8 Generational Economics 155
Luigi Campiglio and Lorenza Alexandra Lorenzetti
Politics and Social Choice Without Children 156
Children and Generationality 157
Positive Freedom and Low Fertility 161
Children’s Poverty 165
Investing in Children: Mill’s Dilemma 169
The Rosmini-Vote Solution: Children’s Proxy-Vote 170
What Italians Think About the Political Representation of
Children and the Proxy-Vote 172
Conclusion 174
References 174
9 Legality of Age Restrictions on Voting: A Canadian
Perspective 177
Cheryl Milne
History of the Franchise in Canada 179
Voting Rights Litigation 180
Impact of International Law and Experience 186
Competent and Informed Voters 189
Children’s Activism 190
Conclusion 191
References 192
viii CoNTENTS
10 A View from Paediatric Medicine: Competence, Best
Interests, and Operational Pragmatism 197
Neena Modi
Introduction 197
Societal Change 198
Insights from Paediatric Medicine 203
Operationalising a Child Vote 208
Conclusions 211
References 212
Index 215
n C
otes on ontributors
Luigi  Campiglio is Professor of Economic Policy at the Catholic
University of the Sacred Heart, Italy. He was Director of the Economic
Policy Institute and Deputy Pro-Rector, as well being a visiting scholar at
Stanford University and the University of Cambridge. His research activi-
ties concern theoretical and applied topics in economics, including the
distribution of income, the welfare state, family economics, uncertainty in
economic decisions, and the relationship between the economy and the
political system. He publishes widely in academic journals and public mag-
azines and is the author of Prima le donne e i bambini, Il costo del vivere,
Mercato, prezzi e politica economica, and Tredici idee per ragionare di
economia.
Michael S. Cummings is founding Chair and Professor Emeritus of
Political Science at the University of Colorado Denver, United States. He
publishes on communal and utopian studies, American political thought
and practice, and youth politics. He is the author of Children’s Voices in
Politics, American Political Thought (three editions), Beyond Political
Correctness, and The Transformation of U.S. Unions. He is a long-time
activist in electoral politics and progressive causes, especially the rights of
children and people with disabilities.
Anandini Dar is Assistant Professor in the School of Education Studies,
and Deputy Dean of the International Affairs Division, at Dr.
B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India. She is co-founder of the Critical
Childhoods and Youth Studies Collective (CCYSC) and runs an
EU-ICSSR-funded project on “Displacement, Placemaking and Wellbeing
ix