The DRG Learning Community of Practice presents a session focused on the following topic:
Can youth policy debates impact democratic participation and mitigate affective polarization in a highly contentious political context?
In the run up to the 2021 Honduras presidential debates and elections, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), in partnership with a researcher from George Washington University, experimentally tested the impact of youth policy debates on political knowledge, attitudes, expectations, participation and affective polarization across partisan divides. Ahead of the presidential elections, Honduran youth participated in a randomized controlled trial, debating and deliberating in groups about policies salient to the Honduran elections. The experimental findings not only have implications for civic education, improving intergroup relations and policy-centered debate with politicians, but also have implications for strengthening vertical accountability between citizens and their prospective representatives in contentious political contexts.
We will hear from the National Democratic Institute's Linda Stern, Director of Global Design, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning and from the George Washington University's Eric Kramon, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs.