Youth Goals? Youth Agency and the Sustainable Development Goals

Orsini, Amandine [USL-B]

Youth participated in the negotiations for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an official United Nations constituency. And yet, so far, there has been no study of their participation in these negotiations. This is even more surprising given that the 2015 SDGs are now under their review stage just as youth are emerging, through protests, as key players in sustainable development governance. In order to improve knowledge of youth as global actors, this article embraces an innovative ‘youth agency’ perspective in global politics. Borrowing from youth studies, such a perspective relies on three research questions, on the (i) identity of youth actors, (ii) their claims, and (iii) their impact at the global level. Methodologically, the article mostly relies on a qualitative assessment of youth experiences in negotiation processes through interviews of youth actors. It reveals the subjectivities of youth identity at the global level and the limits of their achievements within formal negotiation processes.