Youth, risk and the Structured Dialogue: governing young EU citizens

ABSTRACT

The European Union’s (EU) Structured Dialogue, a consultation process between young people and policy-makers on the EU’s youth policies, has achieved remarkable popularisation and is perceived as a valuable mechanism in finding remedies for the risks facing young people across the EU. Applying the Foucauldian analytics of government approach, this article critically analyses the formation and features of the Structured Dialogue and its practical implementation during the final phase of the third work cycle under the Greek Presidency of the EU (January 2014 to June 2014). It shows that the proliferation of dialogue is a practical feature of government at the EU level undertaken by a multiplicity of stakeholders. In this constellation, risks associated with youth are mobilised as representational notions that render reality in such a form to make it amenable to specific types of operations and interventions. The Structured Dialogue works as a practical form of governing reconstituting power relations so that government is reaffirmed as a valid and legitimate process through which actors collectively search for the best possible outcome and in the interest of all, while youth are pursued and encouraged to make them active citizens capable, as both individuals and communities, of managing their own risk.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth
• Structured Dialogue
• risk
• European Union
• analytics of government

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.