Abstract
The arguments made against giving children the vote are many and varied. It is often assumed that cumulatively they add up to an overwhelming case. But taken separately and compared to the arguments made against votes for women, we can see then none is unanswerable. The differences between the two cases make clear that they cannot simply be equated. But it is also clear that excluding children from the franchise on the basis of competence is discriminatory, that paternalism does not exclude their enfranchisement, that children’s interests require their own voice, and that allowing children to vote is more likely to energise and improve democratic politics than either to corrode it or to corrupt the lives of children themselves. Taken together, these arguments do provide a cumulative case for the enfranchisement of children.
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Runciman, D. (2022). The Enfranchisement of Women Versus the Enfranchisement of Children. In: Wall, J. (eds) Exploring Children's Suffrage. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14541-4_5
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