New Childhood Studies, Childhood Policy and Children Rights

Abstract

In a time where the future of democracy is at stake, it is necessary to recognize the significance of the contribution that the “new” childhood studies can make to securing that future, particularly with respect to establishing the importance of the agency and social competence (in different arenas of everyday life) of children as political social actors. The combination of these recognitions with the task of conceptualizing childhood politics (as politics with children) and an emancipatory development in the field of children’s rights is vital for fuller socio-theoretical and socio-political debates on solutions to the problem of positive human future for all generations. In this paper, we show how the conceptualizations and empirical work from childhood studies enhance the role that children’s rights can play in the improvement of democratic processes at a societal level, i.e. real participation. This is something that goes way beyond the tendency to treat children’s rights as an individual concern, arguing instead for a consideration of children’s rights and agency as a social requirement for democracy.