Contemporary policy discourse about young people is frequently trapped in the dichotomous paradigm of simplistically portraying them as either ‘a problem’ or a ‘human resource’. This broadly applies both in Europe and in Asia. However, while significant comparative research on youth, youth work and youth policies has been done within Europe, there is very little research which compares the European and Asian contexts, and there is none to date specifically comparing Ireland and India. This thesis explores and compares the youth policies of Ireland and India through the analytical lens of Ian Gough’s (2008) “five I’s”: industrialisation, interests, institutions, ideas and international environment. It examines the major ‘factors and actors’ that have influenced the historical development of youth policies in both countries and situates these in their broader regional contexts.
There are many obvious differences between India and Ireland in terms of location, demography, culture(s) and other economic and social factors. However, there are also significant connections between them, stemming not least from their common colonial experiences, meaning there are important parallels in political culture and public administration.
The voluntary sector and its relationship with government agencies hugely influences policy making in both countries (the principle of ‘subsidiarity’ in Ireland can be fruitfully compared with that of ‘Panchayati Raj’ in India). In India, however, there is no forum for NGOs and the government to come together whereas ‘social partnership’ has been central to Irish social policy. In both countries, young people have been profoundly affected by rapid economic change and globalisation presents them with a range of challenges and opportunities, social and cultural as well as economic. Deep-seated inequalities, different but overlapping, also persist in both. Significant differences remain in the nature of youth transitions but these may be converging, in a pattern that has broader global causes and implications.