Abstract
Child poverty rates exceed those
of elderly people in almost all
Western nations. Moreover, it
can be expected that the presently young generation (and yet
unborn) will (far) less benefit
from the welfare state than the
elderly generation does and will
continue to do. These inequalities
between age groups and
intergenerational inequities are,
to a large extent, the result of the
increasing numerical weight of
elderly voters among the electorate
to which political parties and
governments respond. Giving
voting rights to minor children,
albeit vicariously exercised by
parents, is one, repeatedly proposed
approach to strengthening
pro-family politics against the
threat of gerontocratic politics
(recently: Ringen 1997; van Parijs
1999). In the paper the pros and
cons of this proposal are analyzed
from two very different
perspectives: (1) consequentialist
arguments, i.e. those related to
the desired/feared effects of
enfranchising children on welfare
state policy, intergenerational
relations etc.; (2) deontological
arguments, i.e. reasons whether
or not an extension of voting
rights ought to materialize.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Sociology and Political Science
Cited by
20 articles.
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