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A glimpse of Danish youth politics and its organizational structure, the relations with the mother parties and political culture.
About one third of young Danes (aged 16-25 years) participate in volunteer work for different organizations. It literally means that young people are as active as adults in Denmark. For instance, they work for local sports clubs, doing homework assistance, fundraising for a cause or being involved in youth politics. Here, I will be more focused in young people’s involvement in politics—youth politics.All Danish political parties have their wings as youth organization. The roles of the youth organizations differ a bit throughout the political spectrum as does the youth organizations level of independence from their mother parties. Here, I will take the Social Liberal Youth of Denmark (Radikal Ungdom) as an example. At the same time, other political youth organizations also will be discussed throughout the article.
Radikal Ungdom (RU) is an independent, political youth organization. It intends to gather young people who believe in social-liberalism. RU was founded in 1994, but it belongs to a movement that goes back to 1911. RU is the official youth organization for Radikale Venstre - the Danish Social Liberal Party.
Being associated with RU, young people can jump into the Danish mainstream politics. As a platform for the youth, RU works to horn the potentiality of young people. The organization introduces young people to all aspects of life as a politician. RU is being able to create a forum for discussion to the young people. RU, is even can be taken as a nursery to nurture the future of political leaders in Denmark. Seminars, political meetings and study tours are the means RU uses to increase knowledge about and interest in Danish and international politics and social conditions among young people. RU makes youth feel that being involved in politics is not only a profession but a fun too.
In organizational and daily matters Radikal Ungdom is led by the Bureau. The Bureau is responsible for the economy of the organization, the secretariat, communications and much more. It consists of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and four other members, who are each responsible for one of the four fields: campaigns, local branches, communication and events. The members of the Bureau are all elected at the annual congress for one year at a time. The daily leader of the secretariat also takes part in all Bureau meetings.
The Executive Committee is Radikal Ungdom’s highest organizational and political authority between the annual congresses. The Executive Committee consists of around 40 people: the members of the Bureau, a Director, a Vice-Director, officers of the political committees and a representative from each of the 25 local branches of Radikal Ungdom. The Executive Committee assembles five times a year to create political and organizational guidelines for the organization. The Executive Committee is thereby the centre of the political and organizational discussions and a meeting place for the Bureau, the political committees, work groups and local chapters.
Radikal Ungdom has eight political committees: the International Committee, the European Committee, The Integration Committee, The Culture, Law and Ethics Committee, The Social and Health Committee, The Environment and Traffic Committee, The Economy and Occupation Committee, and The Education Committee. A political officer leads each committee. Both the political officers and the members of the committees are elected for one year through the annual congress. The political officers and the president, the vice-president and the director and vice-director of the executive committee make up the Political Committee, which focuses on planning and co-operation between different political fields.
Finally Radikal Ungdom has two working groups: the Middle East Working Group and the Nepal Working Group. The working groups work on international projects with youth organizations in other countries. The Middle East Working Group currently runs projects in Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine, while the Nepal Working Group in January this year had the pleasure of working with Youth Initiative and the Liberal Youth of Denmark on the seminar “Training for trainers: the rights and possibilities of the individual in a democracy”.
As an independent youth organization Radikal Ungdom is free to adopt policies, even if they go against the policy of the mother party. This ensures that new ideas come forward. Radikal Ungdom is a sparring partner and watchdog for the Social-Liberal Party, especially the parliamentary group. This means that Radikal Ungdom both proposes new policies to the mother parties and suggests policy changes when we believe it’s needed. Especially during elections Radikal Ungdom supports the Social Liberal Party and helps out with campaigning. Radical Ungdom does also, however, run campaigns on its own.
All in all, Radikal Ungdom and other political youth organizations in Denmark offer young people the change of getting involved in society and propose new ideas for the way the country ought to be run. It is also a great way to develop leadership and organizational skills. Last but not least, many members meet friends for life during the years in political youth organizations.
It makes sense for us young people to get involved since we are the ones who have to live with the consequences of the policies that are being adopted (or not adopted) during these days.
Christina Bach Harboe is International Officer and Chairwoman of the Nepal Working Group of the Social Liberal Youth of Denmark.
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