| Description: |
While government today is in the hands of middle-age and older people, young people of today will become voters tomorrow. This paper compares the political attitudes and behaviour of young, middle-age and older people in more than 40 new democracies across Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Latin America. It is based on unique surveys of the New Democracies and New Russia Barometer, the Latinobarometer, and the European Commission's survey of voting for the European Parliament. The results show that all age groups usually support democracy and reject undemocratic alternatives. Insofar as there are differences between social groups, economic prosperity and level of education are more important than age. Moreover, the effects of social structure are greatest in stable West European democracies and weakest in the least stable democracies of Latin America.
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