Youth and Peacebuilding

The practice of building peace is slowly becoming more inclusive. Youth have proven to be integral to this development as their contributions through formal and informal networks have challenged how we understand substantive participation and representation within this space. However, young people’s visibility and inclusion within the peacebuilding discourse has been hard fought and slow to evolve as narrow social constructions of youth continue to determine how they engage with other actors, particularly at the institutional level. Youth often are characterized as potential threats or passive recipients of peacebuilding. However, youth are active peacebuilders, who negotiate systems of insecurity and risk to work for peace in their communities, countries, and on the international stage. This chapter examines the evolution of youth’s inclusion in peacebuilding discourse and practice. It considers the theories, norms, intersections and classifications that have informed understandings and engagements with youth, in both scholarship and practice. It then turns to examine the factors that enable and constrain youth’s participation: gendered challenges, the securitization of youth, and the vexed question of youth’s participation and inclusion in peacebuilding. This chapter highlights the evolving role of youth advocacy in continued efforts to ensure that their engagement with the peacebuilding discourse is substantive and meaningful.