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Youth Policy in Ireland and India: A Comparative Study
Contemporary policy discourse about youth is frequently trapped in the dichotomous paradigm of simplistically portraying them as either ‘a problem’ or a ‘human resource’. This broadly applies both in Europe and in Asia. However, while significant comparative research on youth, youth work and youth policies has been done within Europe, there is very little research which compares the European and Asian contexts, and there is none to date specifically comparing Ireland and India. Based on recently completed PhD research, his paper explores and compares the youth policies of Ireland and India through the analytical lens of Gough’s (2008) “five I’s”: industrialization, interests, institutions, ideas and international environment. It examines the major ‘factors and actors’ that have influenced the historical development of youth policies in both countries and situates these in their broader regional contexts.
There are many obvious differences between India and Ireland in terms of location, demography, culture(s) and other economic and social factors. However there are also significant connections between them, stemming not least from their common colonial experiences, meaning there are important parallels in political culture and public administration.
The voluntary sector and its relationship with government agencies hugely influences policy making in both countries (the principle of ‘subsidiarity’ in Ireland can be fruitfully compared with that of ‘Panchayati Raj’ in India). In India, however, there is no forum for NGOs and the government to come together whereas ‘social partnership’ has been central to Irish social policy. In both countries most youth have little or no opportunity to participate in making decisions that affect their lives. Many are not aware of their own rights, or the policies and programmes that affect them. New policy initiatives are underway in both countries, however, which hold out the possibility of redressing this.