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Young People's Human Rights and the Politics of Voting Age

:	Sonja C. Grover
:	Young People's Human Rights and the Politics of Voting Age
:	Springer-Verlag
:	9789048189632
:	1
:	CHF 85.20
:

:	Politikwissenschaft
:	English

:	270
:	Wasserzeichen/DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

Young People's Human Rights and The Politics of Voting Age explores the broader societal implications of voting age eligibility requirements and the legislative bar against youth voting in North America and in Commonwealth countries (where 'youth' is defined as persons 16 and over but under age 18). The issue is raised as to whether the denial of the youth vote undermines democratic principles and values and ultimately the human dignity of youth. This is the first book to address the topic of the youth vote in-depth as a fundamental human rights concern relating to the entitlement in a democracy to societal participation and inclusion in influencing policy and law which profoundly affects one's life. Also examined are international perspectives on the issue of voting age eligibility. The book would be extremely valuable for instructional purposes as one of the primary texts in undergraduate or graduate courses on children's human rights, political psychology, political science , sociology of law or society and as a supplementary text for courses on human rights or constitutional law and would be of interest also to members of the general public concerned with children's human rights issues.

Sonja C. Grover, Ph.D., is a Professor with Lakehead University. She has authored over 80 refereed articles and has focused on the topic of human rights/children’s rights publishing in leading international human rights and law journals. She has contributed two book chapters for a 2007 edited volume on children's rights in Canada and presented papers at various international conferences on the topic of human rights and vulnerable groups including at UNESCO. Dr. Grover is Associate Editor of theInternational Journal of Human Rights. She is also the single author of several books in the human rights field including:Children's Human Rights: Challenging Global Barriers to the Child Liberation Movement(Sandstone Academic Press, 2007);The Child’s Right to Legal Standing (Lexis Nexis, 2008),Prosecuting International Crimes and Human Rights Abuses Committed Against Children: Leading International Court Cases (Springer, 2010) andThe European Court of Human Rights as a Pathway to Impunityfor International Crimes (Springer, 2010).

	Preface	7
	Acknowledgements	9
	Contents	10
	About the Author	16
	Part I The Philosophical Context of the Minimum Voting Age Question	17
	1 Alternative Philosophical Perspectives on the Origin and Nature of Human Rights	18
	1.1 The Embattled Notion of Universal Human Rights: Introduction	18
	1.2 The Embattled Notion of Universal Human Rights	19
	1.3 On Whether the Notion of Human Rights is Intrinsically Inter-Subjective	20
	1.4 On Whether Appreciating One's 'Right to Have Rights' Requires a Certain Level of Cognitive Competence	22
	1.5 On Discovering One's Human Rights	23
	1.6 Evaluating Various Perspectives on the Origin of the Notion of Human Rights	25
	1.6.1 The Discourse Notion of the Origin of Human Rights	25
	1.6.2 The Protest Notion of the Origin of Human Rights	26
	1.6.3 Human Rights Concepts as the Products of Inter-Subjective Agreements	26
	1.7 A Critique of the Post-Modern View of Human Rights as Context-Specific and of the Pre-Disposition to a Non-Interventionist Stance	27
	1.8 Analysis of the Alan Dershowitz Model of the Origin of Human Rights Notions	28
	1.9 Challenging the Political Conception of Human Rights	29
	Part II Socio-Cultural Factors and the Minimum Voting Age	33
	2 Examples of Contextual Factors in the Youth Struggle for the Vote	34
	2.1 Historical Examples of Voting Rights for Persons Below the Usual Age of Majority for Political Citizenship in their Particular Societies	34
	2.2 Youth in the 'Developing World': Adult Responsibilities but Still No Right to Vote	35
	Part III Voting Age Eligibility: Human Rights Issue or Social Policy Matter?	39
	3 The Human Rights Imperative and Minimum Voting Age	40
	3.1 The Gatekeeper Model of Recognition of a Human Rights Claim as Legitimate and it's Application to the Youth Voting Rights Struggle: Introduction	40
	3.1.1 The Clifford Bob Model on the Process for International Legitimization of 'New' Human Rights Claims	43
	3.2 The Devolution of the Youth Voting Age Struggle from 'Human Rights Struggle' to 'Social Policy Issue': The Canadian Example	44
	3.3 The Supreme Court of Canada's Downgrading of the Youth Human Rights Struggle for the Vote to a Social Policy Issue	49
	3.3.1 Acknowledgement by the Supreme Court of Canada in Sauvé of the Fundamental Nature of the Right in Question (Voting Rights)	50
	3.3.2 The SCC Denial---When the Rights Holders Are Young People Under 18 Years---that Age Restrictions on the Vote Need to be Justified by the Government as Compatible with the Values of a Free and Democratic State	50
	3.3.3 The Supreme Court of Canada's Holding that the Government's General Social and Political Philosophy is an Unconstitutional Basis for Denial of the Vote to Canadian Citizens with the Exception of Canadians Under Age 18 Years	53
	3.3.4 The s. 3 Canadian Charter Guarantee of Universal Suffrage as Shielded from Suspension under the Notwithstanding Clause (s. 33 of the Charter)	56
	3.4 Disenfranchisement of Citizens under Age 18 Yearsthe 'Taking Away' of a Pre-existing Inherent Fundamental Human Right and an Ongoing Human Rights Violation	58
	3.5 The Right to Vote as an Indicia of Moral Worth: The Example of Suffrage Movements for Women and Felons and Lessons Regarding the Youth Voting Rights Struggle	61
	3.5.1 The Exclusionary Aspects of Various Voting Rights Movements and the Implications for the Perceived Moral Worth of the Citizen	61
	3.5.2 Opponents to the Vote at 16 and Their Refusal to Acknowledge the Impact of an Age-Based Exclusion in the Vote on the Perceived Moral Worth of 16- and 17-Year-Olds as Citizens	63
	3.6 Voting Rights and the Issue of Personal Autonomy	65
	3.7 A More Proportional Response to the Question of Age Considerations and the Vote: A Model Which Does Not Incorporate an Absolute Bar on Voting for Under 18s	69
	3.7.1 Introduction	69
	3.7.2 Voting Rights for Youth Aged 14 Years and Older but Under 18 Years	70
	3.7.3 Voting Rights for Persons under Age 14 Years	72
	3.7.4 The Proxy Voting Notion	76
	3.7.5 Philosophical Problems with the Notion of a Proxy Vote on Behalf of Minors	77
	Part IV A Victory for the Vote at 16 in Austria Goes Largely Ignored in Other States	81
	4 Austria and the Vote at 16	82
	4.1 'Are We There Yet?': The 2007 Lowering of the Minimum Voting Age to 16 in Austria Cast as a Political Policy Choice and Not an Affirmation of an Inherent Fundamental Human Right	82
	Part V Rationalizing of the Violation of U.K. Youths Inherent Right to Suffrage	87
	5 The U.K. Example of Resistance to the Vote at 16: The U.K. Electoral Commission and Select U.K. Social Scientists	88
	5.1 The U.K. Electoral Commissions Under-Cutting of the Youth Voting Rights Issue as a Fundamental Human Rights Matter	88
	5.2 Opposition from U.K. Social Scientists to Lowering the Voting Age to 16 in the United Kingdom	95
	Part VI The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Eligible Voting Age	104
	6 The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Does it Really Make Age Discrimination in the Vote Against Under 18s Constitutional? The Broader Lessons	105
	6.1 The Pre-1971 Movement to Lower the U.S. Minimum Voting Age From 21 Years to 18 Years: Lessons for the Contemporary Struggle for a Minimum Voting Age of 16 Years	105
	6.1.1 Recognizing the Potential Power of the Youth Vote	105
	6.2 Lessons to be Learned from The U.S. Congressional Debates on Lowering the U.S. Voting Age from 21 to 18 Years	108
	6.2.1 On Immutable Characteristics and Whether the Denial of the Vote to Under 18s Constitutes Age Discrimination	108
	6.2.2 On Why the Absolute Bar Against Under 18s Voting is Unconstitutionally Discriminatory	112
	6.2.3 The Constitutional Right to Vote Versus Age Discrimination in Access to the Vote	116
	6.2.4 On Whether the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the U.S. Constitution Provide Protection Against Age-Based Discrimination in Voting Only for Those Aged 18 Years and Older	119
	6.2.5 Unconstitutional Barriers to the Vote Incorporated in Electoral Law as Purported 'Standard Qualifications' for the Franchise	126
	6.2.6 More Commentary on the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Regarding Voting Rights	127
	6.2.7 Ethnic, Color and Gender Discrimination in the Vote: Are They Analogous to Age-Based Restrictions on the Franchise?	128
	6.2.8 Misinterpretation of the Wording of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on the Issue of Age Discrimination in the Vote	131
	6.3 A Few Additional Comments Regarding the Alberta Teen Voting Rights Case	132
	Part VII Barriers Coming From Unlikely Sources to Youth's Struggle to Access the Basic Human Right to Suffrage	137
	7 The Youth Vote as a Human Right and Resistance from High Profile International and National Human Rights Gatekeepers	138
	7.1 Children as a Minority Group: Reframing the Youth Voting Issue as a Human Rights Struggle	138
	7.1.1 HIV/AIDS Affected Children and Youth and the Implications for Understanding the Youth Vote as a Basic Human R