Youth of political parties examine the dynamics of developing political participation

The workshop was held over two days and included youth dialogues and political modernization, which aims to shed light on the outcomes of the Royal Committee for the Modernization of the Political System, and to provide a diagnosis and perceptions of the most prominent challenges and opportunities that may face the implementation of the committee’s recommendations, and to work on drawing a political roadmap from the point of view of the partisan youth. , represents the best practices of stakeholders to activate and deepen the democratic transition.

The paper – which summarized the trends of party youth – emphasized that the recommendations of the Political System Modernization Committee represent a real and practical opportunity to effectively integrate youth into partisan politics, but this is closely related to the ability of political parties to change their reality, implement their programs and create an incubating environment for the recruitment of political elites and new party leaders from the Jordanian youth generation. As well as the necessity of youth leader’s existence in decision-making positions to confront economic and political problems, and to develop parties for programmatic work and financial independence, away from traditional forms of party work based on family ties and personal relationships, accordingly; Partisan youth find that the outputs of the Political System Modernization Committee provide an important window because it provides a positive political climate and redirects attention to partisan work and its role in political reform in particular and development reform in general.

According to the youth participating in the dialogue, the way the government manages political parties has negatively affected the youth and their partisan practice, there is more than one opinion among the participants about the importance of creating a climate for self-financing of the parties, and not relying primarily financially on the government, nevertheless, there was an agreement among most of the participants with the recommendations of the Committee for the Modernization of the Political System concerning the independence of the organization of party affairs from the government and its transfer to an independent body that organizes and manages the affairs of political parties.

The participants in the paper emphasized that the most important obstacles to modernizing the political system are the absence of dialogue spaces between governments and youth parties during the previous phases, also they pointed out that youth must feel that they are real partners in decision-making and its improvement, in addition, the widening gap and the absence of communication reflect negatively on the efficiency of decisions and their enforcement. It is important to listen to partisan youth, in particular about issues related to political reform and democratic transformation.

In addition to the weak capacity for political mobilization due to the negative stereotype about the feasibility of partisan work in Jordan, as well as the traditional fears, especially for those who have family members working in sovereign institutions, since this – as the participants point out – affects the path of their relatives and weakens their chances of obtaining personal benefits such as participation in courses and travel. Consequently, political parties lose the mobilization of a large segment of university students who have relatives and siblings in these institutions.

Among the obstacles also mentioned by the paper is the absence of partisan youth from the national media, and the lack of a national platform that contributes to communicating ideas and participating in finding solutions to national problems and challenges, expressing opinions on issues of public affairs, the weakness of political upbringing programs in educational institutions and in outclasses programs, especially in the absence of a national strategy for political development, thus weakening popular interest in the political process.

The participants confirmed that the lack of justice in supporting political parties, in addition to the approach of support based on loyalty to governments significantly limits the effectiveness of partisan work and the renewal of political leadership within it. In addition to the absence of mechanisms for joint action between the parties, this leads to the absence of political competition over the cultural, economic, and social programs. It was clear from the participants’ comments, the weak joint meetings between the parties, and the lack of coordination among them.

The participants found that government-oriented funding to political parties for the election time only weakens the economic roles and creative programs within the parties, thus funding programs related to entrepreneurship and self-reliance in the party’s economic investment is more sustainable than support limited to participation in elections.

In the context of practical proposals for political modernization from the point of view of the participating partisan youth, the paper presented several solutions at the political and legislative level, as follows:

First, political level:
1-    Forming a national committee composed of elected civil society institutions such as parties and unions, aim to supervise the political road map, monitor its implementation, and propose the important steps to develop and protect the path of political modernization.
2-    Organizing periodic dialogue meetings between governments and the youth of political parties to discuss issues of public affairs, and present perceptions of the most prominent challenges, solutions, and mechanisms for their implementation from the point of view of the youth of political parties.
3-    Concerning improving the political environment and taking the important steps for that, such as guarantees of integrity and emphasizing the values of freedom, human rights, and the rule of law as the governing values of the political sphere.
4-    Ceasing the requirements related to prior approvals in various professional and practical fields for young people, to reduce young people’s fears of the impact of their involvement in political work on their access to jobs and professions.
5-    Expanding the scope of the private sector’s social responsibility towards developing party work in terms of financing and supporting economic, cultural, and social programs, and working to exempt individual donors to parties from tax at 100% of the value of the donation.
6-    Establishing and supporting joint projects among the youth of the parties, aimed at exchanging experiences, expertise, and joint actions.
7-    The mass media and social media platforms are effective ways to disseminate political awareness about parties and partisan programs and their role in promoting partisan political participation of youth. Therefore, there is a need to provide effective digital platforms for all parties that support participation and open channels of dialogue between partisan youth to exchange views.

Second: On the legislative level:
1-    Reviewing and developing the Universities Law to allow the presence of political parties in universities and implement cultural, political and social programs for students.
2-    Amending and developing the Student Union Elections Law in Universities to allow political parties to participate programmatically in these elections.
3-    Develop the party financing system so that support is distributed between participation in the general elections, investment programs within the party, and other administrative expenses.
4-    Amending legislation that obstructs the adoption of educational courses about political and partisan work in universities, and creating an educational course that concerns the importance of partisan work for young people and its reflection on the living, economic and political levels.
5-    Developing the system of partisan youth immunity like the system of immunity for journalists, and capitalizing for rights of defense initiatives for them.

The partisan youth participating in the workshop agreed to continue communication and coordination in order to find a solid common ground to adopt perceptions that serve the development of youth work in political parties and to enhance the parties’ ability to attract young people to political and partisan work.