Reckless subjects, future capital? 'Youth' as an object of concern in international health organizations' discourse

Contemporary international organizations (IOs) are routinely portrayed as being more accessible to a wide variety of actors than ever before. The recent hyper-institutionalization of youth in international politics testifies to this pluralization, at least quantitatively. This paper traces the histo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Globalizations Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 358 - 377
Main Authors: Stadelmann, Felix, Kramer, Niklas, Pantzerhielm, Laura, Holzscheiter, Anna
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Routledge 03.04.2025
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
21st century
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Discourses
Global health
Health care industry
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Institutionalization
International organizations
International relations
Optimism
Political agency
Reproductive health
Research methodology
Semantic analysis
Semantic fields
Youth
Youth organizations
Youth representation
ISSN:1474-7731, 1474-774X, 1474-774X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Contemporary international organizations (IOs) are routinely portrayed as being more accessible to a wide variety of actors than ever before. The recent hyper-institutionalization of youth in international politics testifies to this pluralization, at least quantitatively. This paper traces the historical emergence of youth as an object of concern among health IOs. Covering a period of over 50 years, we analyse semantic fields surrounding youth and find that young people have primarily been portrayed as society's future capital in development discourses or as a risk-prone group in the context of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. Only since the beginning of the 21st century can we trace portrayals of youth that emphasize rights, inclusion and engagement in global health. Our study addresses an empirical research gap on youth in global health and prompts us to critically re-evaluate the optimistic liberal assessments that have marked International Relations (IR) theories on the 'opening-up' of IOs.
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ISSN:1474-7731
1474-774X
1474-774X
DOI:10.1080/14747731.2024.2414688