It is commonly assumed that young people are politically apathetic, since they rarely vote or join parties. Yet that belief falters whenever a shocking event brings them onto the streets in a matter of days. The problem lies in this mismatch between apparent passivity and a capacity for sudden mobilisation.
The thesis asks when and why young people become politically active, and what role focusing events play. Kingdon's multiple streams framework offers the explanation. A sudden event, it shows, links the problem stream with the policy and political streams, opening a window of opportunity. The answer is sought through a qualitative case study of the November 2024 Novi Sad tragedy, when a station canopy collapsed, claiming sixteen lives and setting off a wave of student protests, drawing on secondary sources.
After the tragedy, all three streams converged. Once the accident exposed corruption in public projects, long-standing demands for accountability resurfaced, joined by street protests and pressure from abroad. The prime minister and the mayor of Novi Sad resigned, and early elections forced their way into the debate. Here young people were not merely protesters but acted as a collective policy entrepreneur.
The main finding is that young people are not apathetic but reshaping their political participation, which focusing events merely activate. For policymakers, engagement cannot be measured solely through voting and party membership, since such a measure misses most of what young people do. A single case cannot be generalised, but it offers a basis for comparative research.
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