Young people and global social policy

Young people worldwide are typically the objects of care, protection, nurture, development and preparation for independent adulthood. Most social policies exist primarily in recognition of their vulnerability and of their need for protection from many potential harms: physical and mental neglect; exploitation; emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse; forced labour and economic exploitation;

victimisation; and criminal acts. But this emphasis on protection is not universal, and young people’s development between childhood and adulthood is experienced in such diverse ways across countries and types of society and economy as to make sweeping generalisations about the state of the world’s youth misleading.

In almost all countries the processes of young people’s care, nurture and personal development, and of exploitation, violence and harm are, to differing degrees, influenced by global as well as national social policy. The work of intergovernmental and international non-governmental organisations (IGOs and INGOs) and the processes of global governance have produced a wide array of international standards and normative frameworks guiding national policies. This chapter outlines how global social policy (GSP) has incorporated attention to young people aged 15–24 years into social policy development. It begins with definitional issues concerning young people, highlighting key features of a century of the global institutional architecture concerning them. It then focuses on young people’s ‘transitions’, the concept of being ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET), and conflicting interpretations of causes of youth unemployment. The final section reviews how GSP and IGOs have responded to mass youth unemployment.

A key challenge for GSP concerning young people’s wellbeing and development is that ‘youth’ is not a self-evident category.