Give Children the Vote

Reviews / Votes

[T]he book is written in such a way that it makes it easy for readers to weigh up the various proposals for children's right to vote and to come to their own judgment. It is also a creative contribution to counteract the still prevalent adultism in today's societies. * socialnet (Bloomsbury translation) * Future generations will ponder why children were for so long denied the right to have their views represented at the ballot box, just as we wonder why societies argued against the right of women and people of colour to vote. Professor John Wall has written a scholarly work that is also a gripping read. * Neena Modi, Professor of Neonatal Medicine, Imperial College London, UK * Is it time to give children the vote? In a nuanced, deeply thought and challenging way, this book combines political theory and childhood studies and demonstrates why the constraining of suffrage rights according to age can be profoundly problematic. It undercuts simplistic comprehensions about adult voting rights, competence, knowledge and how age structure power relations. John Wall extends the argument to a claim for proxy voting for all children. It contains both a vision of how proxy voting can help to redeem deteriorating democratic values and an insightful and novel social critique. This book will stimulate new thinking in a wide range of areas and deserves a broad audience among academic scholars, politicians, activists for extension of voting rights - simply anyone interested in the future of our democracies. * Bengt Sandin, Professor Emeritus of Child Studies, Linkoeping University, Sweden *