Quotations from TIME, October 17, 2005 on the role of young people in German politics:

Younger Germans seem to like the absence of ideological baggage that is typical of the new politicians. But the same lack of engagement means that some don't bother to vote or to become involved in politics at all. In the 2002 Shell Youth Study, which its authors say still holds true today, only 34% of respondents under 25 said they had any interest at all in political affairs. That is down from 57% of the same age group in the early 1990s.

Anxiety about the economy, about work and pensions, has replaced a desire to change the world. "People don't have to go the barricades any more: they just need a job," says Walter Lindner, a Joschka Fischer aide.

First-time voters in last month's elections ranked "labor-market policy" as the key factor that would determine their support. Social justice trailed well behind, and environmental policy was ranked next to last, registering with just 8%.

Link to the BBC on "Who Runs Your World?" - a worldwide survey of people's opinion on power: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/who_runs_your_world/default.stm

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