A social anxiety currently pervades the political classes of the western world, arising from the perception that young people have become disaffected with liberal democratic politics. Voter turnout among 18-25 year olds continues to be lower than other age groups and they are less likely to join political parties. This is not, however, proof that young people are not interested in politics per se but is evidence that they are becoming politically socialized within a new media environment.

1. Introduction / Brian D. Loader Part One: Usage, Usability and Design 2. How democracies have disengaged from young people / Stephen Coleman 3. Contrasting producer and recipient views of youth participation websites / Sonia Livingstone 4. Logged on and engaged?: the experience of Italian young people / Davide Calenda and Lorenzo Mosca 5. Rethinking online youth civic engagement: reflections on web content analysis / Roman Gerodimos and Janelle Ward 6. Logged on and disaffected: a causal link? / Bob Watt Part Two: Innovation in Action 7. Youth engagement sites: appealing to young voters in the US / Lance Bennett 8. Youth Internet use during the last UK elections / Gustavo Mesch and Stephen Coleman 9. Young activists, political horizons, and the Internet: adapting the net to one's purposes / Peter Dahlgren 10. Australian young people's participatory practices and internet use / Ariadne Vromen Part Three: Citizenship Education through ICTs 11. ICT and citizenship in Northern Ireland; a critique of experience since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement / Roger Austin 12. The place of online citizenship education / Brian D. Loader and Leigh Keeble 13. P2P Politics: young people and policy deliberation online / Ross Ferguson 14. Postscript: towards a new research agenda / Brian D. Loader