The Internet Generation: Engaged Citizens or Political Dropouts (Civil Society: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives) - Softcover

"In many countries there is a general trend toward a declining voter turnout and a diminished sense of civic duty. Henry Milner focuses in this book on the influence of the internet on these phenomena. He aims to answer the question how the internet affects the attentiveness to politics of the generation that reached adulthood after 1990."-- "International Journal of Public Opinion Research" "This book is a useful contribution to the continuing dialogue about the decline of civil society, the role of generational replacement in this process, and the search for civic renewal. The main point, that young citizens need to become politically engaged in order to maintain participatory democracy, is both important and well-argued. Moreover, Milner's comparative approach is enlightening, in terms of what is found to be the same and different, about the internet generation across the globe. This book is recommended to anyone concerned about the evolution of participatory democracy and the role that those currently entering adulthood will (or will not) play in sustaining it."-- "Political Science Quarterly"

Despite rising levels of education and mounting calls for increased democratic participation, recent years have seen a significant decline in voter turnout in many countries and the erosion of the sense of civic duty that brought earlier generations to the polls. Henry Milner looks at the United States, Canada, Britain, Scandinavia, and the European Union to probe the decline of youth voting and attentiveness to politics, drawing lessons from observations of institutions, which could break down the wall between political life and"real" life that underlies political abstention among the Internet generation. Finding civic education the key to instilling habits of attentiveness to public affairs, especially among potential political dropouts, Milner sets out a series of ways to bring the issues-and the political parties' stance on them-to the classroom, including visits, simulations, and innovative use of media, old and new.