Understanding Policy Instrument Choice Concerning Citizenship in Education and Youth Policies: A Typology of Public Tools

Whether at European or at national level, issues relating to the citizenship of young people are present in public debates and give to the implementation of specific tools. The past and the recurrence of setting up this issue on the agenda invites to reflect on the dynamics of public action. This article presents a typology of the tools gradually developed in two public sectors that concern young people: education and youth. Based on a policy instrument choice approach, it highlights that the choices made by public decision-makers to deal with citizenship issues lead to a multiplication and a diversification of the tools. This proliferation introduces suppose to reflect on the legibility of public action: if those mechanisms can be seen as complementary and as an opportunity for young people, they can also enter into tension. In a context of generational renewal of the electorate, it also calls for reflection on the consequences for young people’s practices and on the building of the perception of citizenship.