Call for Papers
GGS Annual Conference “Youth and Politics in Times of Crisis”
Justus Liebig University Giessen, 24-25 September 2026
For the annual conference of the Giessen Graduate Centre for Social Sciences, Business, Economics and Law (GGS), the section “Citizens, Politics and Democracy” cordially invites submissions. The annual conference, titled “Youth and Politics in Times of Crisis” aims to present and discuss current research on the relationship between young people and politics. The conference languages will be English and German.
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.
We welcome researchers and guests at all career stages and particularly encourage scholars in the qualification phase to submit contributions to the annual conference. Submissions and presentations may be in English or German. Contributions may be submitted either as traditional paper presentations or as poster presentations.
Proposals for contributions (working title and an abstract of 250-300 words) should be submitted by 15 April 2026 via email to: ggs-jahrestagung2026@uni-giessen.de. Please indicate whether your submission is intended as a paper or a poster. All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their submission by the end of April 2026.
Participation in the conference is free of charge. Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.
We look forward to receiving numerous submissions and are happy to answer any questions via the above email address.
The coordinators of the GGS section “Citizens, Politics and Democracy”
Simone Abendschön, Patricia Kamper, Tim Pires Alves