Trust in Governance:An Age Variable Perspective on Children and Young People's Lived Citizenship in Denmark during the Pandemic

Governance plays an important role in a stable and cooperative democracy in the same way that distrust in politicians and institutions is a fundamental part of democratic progress. Based on six focus group interviews in three age groups, 11/12-, 14/15- and 18/19-year-olds, and drawing on the theoretical concept of lived citizenship, we shed light on what happens to children and young people’s lived citizenship when politicians and institutional representatives are forced to take immediate action in a crisis that intervenes in the lives of all children and young people. We can conclude that our study gives important insights into children and young people’s lived citizenship during the pandemic. There was room for agency, participation, and negotiation, but there were also situations where their lived citizenship was challenged. Sometimes, their participation possibilities were too limited and too tight to counter-act on.