This talk explores children and young people’s engagement with democratic mechanisms in England, including the potential and limitations of `democratic mechanisms’ in including the voices of children and young people. The lecture then discusses some of the `democratic’ mechanisms being adopted, it explores why and how they are used. The analysis utilises recent data from young participants in democratic structures and the findings discuss the ambiguities of participatory structures in the context of the UK.

Dr Tom Cockburn is a senior lecturer in Applied Social Sciences at the University of Bradford. He has undertaken research into children and young people with The Childrens’ Society, Drugs charities, The YES Forum, various local and national government organisations in the UK. He has published on a wide variety of issues concerning children and young people including: children’s citizenship; theorising participation in public spaces; bridging feminist theory and the sociology of childhood; the history of child welfare organisations; children and extremism; and research methods with practitioners.