If Gen Z has given up on democracy, we're in even more trouble than we thought

Independent

27-01-2025

Half of Gen Z – those aged between 13 and 27 – want Britain to be ruled by a dictator. This is just one of the 'deeply worrying' conclusions from a study that has revealed that our young people have startlingly different attitudes to what most people assumed they had.
The findings come from the polling company Craft, and will be published at a Royal Television Society event on Thursday. They found that a third thought Britain would be better 'if the army was in charge', while almost half agreed that 'the entire way our society is organised must be radically changed through revolution'.
Before we panic and reach for the gin and tonic, it should be pointed out that apparently one third of 45- to 65-year-olds think the same. I say 'apparently' because I think, as with all surveys, we should treat the findings with respect, but also a degree of caution. And by the way, the survey shows Gen Z are abandoning booze in their droves, unimpressed by observing their alcohol-drinking elders.
Most worrying in the survey to me as a lifetime schoolteacher of history and politics, and a headmaster for over 20 years, is the finding that 'the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament and elections'.
I toiled for 40 years to bring politics and current affairs into the classroom and, as a head, to bring in politicians and activists from across the spectrum to stimulate my students. I never minded what political views they had, as long as it wasn't extreme, but cared deeply that they formed views on the biggest issues of the day.
Does this huge switch-off from democracy matter? You bet it does – and here's why.
Democratic regimes are in retreat the world over, making way for autocratic leaders. Democracy is fragile always, and unless its values are promulgated and experienced, it will wilt.
Autocracy may be fine as long as it is working for you: but all should know its dark underbelly, repression of free speech, arbitrary imprisonment, trampling of minorities. Throughout history, countless millions have died in the name of democracy: barely any have died wanting to supplant democracy by dictatorship.
The reason for Gen Z's views has been eloquently explained by Eliza Filby, author of bestseller Generation Shift. She told me that Gen Z haven't been brought up 'in the turmoils of the 20th century and the resulting democratic consensus ingrained in any generation born in the second half of the 20th century'. Not for them the long shadow of Hitler and the Second World War, nor even of Soviet Russia and the Cold War. The evils of dictatorship have not been evident on their watch.
More than that: 'They've grown up with hyper-individualism, instant interactions, instant communication, instant results, frictionless debt and algorithmic transaction, and a public sphere which gives amplification to extremism and the individual. Why would they believe in the slowness of consensual democracy?
'They've also seen wages stall … and opportunities for the young become increasingly challenging'.
Filbey concludes: 'Is it any wonder they are questioning the effectiveness of democracy?'
I would add this generation came to political awareness post-global financial crisis of 2007-08. Since then, economic growth has stalled, and prime minister after prime minister has been unable to offer realistic hope and improvement to the public realm. To disappointing performance, add erosion of trust in politicians and in their ability to deliver on their promises. The one prime minister to be able to communicate effectively with the population at large since Tony Blair (who none of Gen Z remember in power) was Boris Johnson, who did more than any single politician to damage trust and to breed cynicism.
Add further into the mix the decline of the one public information source that for nearly 100 years tried to offer balanced, objective and verifiable information – namely the BBC – and the reluctance of schools to find time for citizenship and political education in a curriculum heavy with exam pressure, and the survey result is not surprising.
Finding our way back will not be easy. But graft is unavoidable if democracy is to flourish.
Let me start with a three-point plan: voting for politicians who tell the truth and who deliver on their promises; a properly funded and properly impartial BBC; and the teaching of citizenship and democracy to all our schoolchildren.