The Circulation of Youth Policies and Adaptation of Youth Work Practices Organised by Young People at Local Level in France

Bibliographic Data

ID8251607
AuthorsFransez Poisson (Arènes: politique, santé publique, environnement, médias, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume3
Issue1
Pages89-108
Publication date2021-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueYouth and Globalization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2589-5737 • E-ISSN: 2589-5745
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/25895745-03010004
OpenAlexW3210398074
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited15

This article is focused on two local participation initiatives in North America and Europe. The Youth Services Cooperatives, summer organizations created by teenagers in Quebec, have been adopted in France since 2013, with the support of local institutions responsible for organising youth policies in the Brittany region (France). The other initiative, youth dialogue exchanges organised by young people, was established in Italy, the United Kingdom, and France. This European scheme aimed to create new ways of thinking about cultural policies for young people at local level. Conceptually, this work is based on actor-network theory (Akrich, Callon, and Latour, 2006) and the transnationalisation of public policies (Hassenteufel, 2005) applied to youth policies (Loncle, 2011), with a view to understanding how organisations working across different countries adapt certain international initiatives between different local contexts. The research is based on fieldwork. Interviews were conducted with young people, youth workers, and decision makers in France and Quebec. In Italy and in the UK, informal discussions and interviews with decision makers were carried out, and observations were made during activities led by young people. The analysis demonstrates that the circulation of participation initiatives is strongly dependent on the original context, especially with regard to the organisation of youth policies. Some characteristics of the initiative, for example the model of community organisation, are difficult to transfer to a country where public policies are centred around public institutions. Because of the absence of international actors who would be able to facilitate links between the organizations involved in these projects, local youth workers have taken on the role of international mediators between the original project and the new initiative in the destination context. These experiences are of interest for understanding how young people can have a fundamental role in implementing new participation initiatives, and have an impact on the definition and implementation of youth policies

Economic growth · Geography · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Youth participation · Youth studies · Youth work · Gender Studies · Policy Transfer and Learning · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Sciences and Governance

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