policyatkings.bsky.social
Working to solve society’s challenges with evidence and expertise. Based at King's College London 🔗 kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute
Event invites & updates ➡️ http://bit.ly/policyinstitute-updates
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"Older generations face a serious challenge convincing gen Z that democracy and our political institutions can work for them. But exaggerating their desire to rip it all up doesn’t increase the sense of urgency, it just adds to the drama of generational division" ⬇️
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It’s not surprising then that confidence in parliament and government are lower among younger generations
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...data from the World Values Survey shows younger generations in Britain don't really feel the country *is* democratic.
This is perhaps understandable when so many policy decisions – from pensions and housing to support for the costs of education and childcare – have favoured older generations
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3️⃣ Which leads to the third problem – that the noise around this distracts us from real and serious issues with Gen Z’s engagement with politics and institutions.
For example...
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2️⃣ There is a risk that it encourages a sense among Gen Z that supporting dictatorship is the norm.
Media coverage of one poll doesn’t mean the line it pushes will become immediately true, but we know that perceptions of the norm for our group can have powerful effects on our views and behaviour
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1️⃣ It adds to sense of generational division, and particularly our willingness to believe that the current generation of young is the worst ever.
It’s a deep human trait for older people to think ill of the young, and it’s been supercharged by the modern media environment
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Read the full report, "Do Gen Z really want a dictatorship? Evidence from existing studies and a new survey experiment" ⬇️
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“The reality is that nothing like half of Gen Z actually support a dictatorship in the UK, in any meaningful sense.”
@bobbyduffy.bsky.social warns that exaggerated claims of Gen Z wanting a dictatorship “can only add to division and risk encouraging that outcome”
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Working all this through, and focusing on respondents to the question that was explicitly about a "dictator", reveals that just 6% of 13-27-yr-olds actually agree the UK would be better with a dictator who doesn't face checks by MPs or have to hold national elections
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Over half of those who agree with any of the three authoritarian statements also go on to say that the leader of the UK *should* still hold national elections
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And over half of those who agree with the original statements go on to say, no, they don’t want a leader who faces no checks or control of their actions by MPs in parliament
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Respondents were asked 3 versions of the question:
1) Identical wording to a recent survey for Channel 4
2) Same w/ 2nd half of the question in bold caps
3) Same w/ "dictator" used in lieu of "strong leader"
The variations result in far lower levels of agreement
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[email protected]: "We have moved away from seeing the US as key allies in the 1960s, which won’t just be related to the febrile and unpredictable political atmosphere around the re-election of President Trump, but also to the many years building closer ties to Europe since the 1960s" ⬇️
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There's also been a huge shift in views on the role we should play on the world stage, with Britons much less likely than they once were to say we should try to be global leaders
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TONIGHT: Join us, @lauchinainstitute.bsky.social, @bkerrychina.bsky.social, @wjhurst.bsky.social, Andrew Peaple and @leslievinjamuri.bsky.social to discuss this timely and urgent topic
➡️ Live: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-return...
➡️ Stream: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-return...
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🌍 The report warns that the combination of an unpredictable Trump administration, China's nationalist leadership, and Taiwan’s pro-independence government creates unprecedented risks in what they identify as “perhaps the world's greatest security challenge”.
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📖 Download: www.kcl.ac.uk/research/des...
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📖 Download: www.kcl.ac.uk/research/des...
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Thanks for flagging - yes, it's a 6:30pm start!