Many theories have been advanced for this apparent decline in support for democracy from neo-liberalism to the strong economic performance of authoritarian states like China, to predictably Facebook and iPhones. Its also been suggested that its easy for those, who've never slept with the fear of being woken in the middle of the night, to take democracy for granted.
A stark contrast emerges in the World Values Survey which shows the number of American's supporting the idea of 'having the army rule' the country rising from 1 in 15 in 1995 to 1 in 6 in 2015. Indeed its striking that 72% of those born before World War Two give living in a democracy the highest value whereas only 30% of those born after 1980 do.
Before those of us in Europe start to feel smug, its worth pointing out the number of millennials supporting democracy was 32% in Western Europe and just 24% in Eastern Europe in the same survey. In fact those born after 1980 all rated income level, job security and pensions as more important than the type of regime they lived under.
You could of course argue that this is a side effect of those who lived through the horrors of World War Two seeing democracy as something to be treasured and valued. Whereas for those born after 1980, who have lived through an era of globalisation which has challenged the role of the state, its only an abstract ideal. An abstract ideal that has not perhaps served them particularly well.
So are generation Y about to throw away the hard won freedoms their forebears fought for and embrace a dictator who promises to make the trains run on time and raise living standards?
Well when asked 40% stated democracy “only serves the interests of a few”and 32% felt there was “no real difference between the policies of the major parties”. But that's not the full story.
Across the world according to the Global Attitudes Survey there is overwhelming support for core democratic principles such as Religious Freedom (94%), Women's Rights (91%), Honest Elections (90%), Free Speech (89%), Free Press (88%) and freedom from internet censorship (80%). It's not so much millennials, or anyone else, giving up on democracy, but they are using different tools, such as social media, to do it in new and exciting ways.
Research has shown that millennials are more likely to volunteer, engage with social issues and “express their political opinions creatively”; more willing to use social media to promote political material; encourage others to act and get involved in grass-roots campaigns. Change.org, 38Degrees, Avaaz and others have enabled people to create and engage in a wide range of campaigns, both off and on-line, to challenge the status quo.
Additionally its largely down to millennials that Podemos polled around 20% of the vote in Spain, Syriza’s won the Greek elections, Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, and they are the driving force behind Bernie Sanders popularity in the US Democratic primaries.
So perhaps, far from giving up on democracy, millennials are simply redefining it on their own terms? As Tony Benn once said “Every generation must fight the same battles again and again. There’s no final victory and there’s no final defeat”