GGS Annual Conference “Youth and Politics in Times of Crisis” 2026

The 2026 Annual Conference of the Giessen Graduate Centre for Social Sciences, Business, Economics and Law (GGS) is dedicated to the topic "Youth and Politics in Times of Crisis." It is taking place on September 24 and 25, 2026, at Justus Liebig University Giessen and is being organized by the "Citizens, Politics, and Democracy" section.

From a socio-political perspective, young people have for some time been confronted with political transformations and, in recent years, with several partially overlapping crises. In addition to climate change as a persistent issue, the COVID-19 pandemic as well as international conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and the renewed conflict in the Middle East have emerged. These developments not only shape young people’s everyday lives but also structure their political perceptions, evaluations, and patterns of participation. Further current issues include the introduction of a general voting age of 16, the participation of children and young people in both formal and informal settings, the role of civic education, as well as new and persistent gender gaps in political attitudes and forms of participation. Taken together, these topics point to changing conditions of growing up politically, under which democratic orientations and political agency are formed.