Citizenship and the Commonwealth The Active Commonwealth ...

Citizenship in the Commonwealthas a country representative is in thegift of national governments.It is not clear whobenefits from ‘youthleaders’ that are handpickedby governmentsAs such there is confusion as towhether youth leaders are thespokespeople of civil society orgovernment; to whom they areaccountable; and how far they can credibly speak on behalf of theirgeneration (and the marginalised in particular).Indeed, it is not clear who benefits from ‘youth leaders’ that are handpickedand inculcated into the ‘steady state’ mentioned above. It remainsto be seen whether reform of Commonwealth youth structures departsfrom this organising principle and harmonises with core Commonwealthconcerns around democracy and pro-poor development.Most young people are not interested in citizenship ― they are interestedin justice. Citizenship is a ‘way in’ to these more substantive concerns.Different stakeholders are divided on what the task is, but one thing isclear: compromising too far on fundamental values trains young leadersmerely to reproduce the world and not to improve it.40