My research on this area focuses on the youth wings of political parties. Youth wings fulfil vital functions for parties, including recruiting, socialising and training young people for politics. They are also a key part of the pipeline to elected office. Until recently, however, party scholars had largely ignored them.
With my colleagues from the YOUMEM project, we therefore conducted the largest ever survey of youth wing party members, covering 12 centre-left and centre-right youth wings in 6 countries. Within this project, my work specifically looks at women’s involvement.
In addition to mainstream youth wings, I also study those of populist radical right (PRR) parties. I have co-authored a book on the topic which shows that youth wings matter for the present and the future of political parties in general, and PRR parties in particular.
As for the next steps, in October 2025 Duncan McDonnell, Ferran Martinez i Coma and I won over A$825,000 in funding from the Australian Research Council for our Discovery Project “Generation-Z engagement with political parties”. The project investigates how Gen-Z in Australia, Belgium, India and Italy view and interact with parties, and will provide relevant stakeholders with recommendations to better involve Gen-Z in the political process.
Book
McDonnell, D., Ammassari, S., Jungar, A.-C., Jupskås, A. R., & Mudde, C. (Forthcoming). Youth wings of the populist radical right. Oxford University Press. [Link]
Journal articles
Bolin, N., McDonnell, D., Ammassari, S., Heinisch, R., Jungar, A.-C., Valbruzzi, M., Wegscheider, C., & Werner, A. (2026). The added value of youth wings: Do they nurture the members their parties want? Political Studies. Advance online publication. [Link] [PDF]
Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., Bolin, N., Werner, A., Valbruzzi, M., Wegscheider, C., Heinisch, R., & Jungar, A.-C. (2026). Party youth wings as forces of renovation: A study of young women members’ efficacy and ambition. Politics and Gender. Advance online publication. [Link] [PDF]
Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., Werner, A., Heinisch, R., Valbruzzi, M., & Wegscheider, C. (2026). More social, less material, more influenced by family ties: Why young women join political parties. European Journal of Political Research. Advance online publication. [Link] [PDF]
Ammassari, S., Martinez i Coma, F., & McDonnell, D. (2026). Young voters, abstainers, and unregistered: Generation Z turnout in a compulsory system. Political Studies, 74(1), 7-28. [Link] [PDF]
- Featured in The Australian, ‘Almost half of young Australians vote because they’re scared of a fine’.
McDonnell, D., Ammassari, S., Werner, A., Bolin, N., Valbruzzi, M., Ferrinho Lopes, H., Heinisch, R., Jungar, A.-C., & Wegscheider, C. (2025). Young radicals, moderates, and aligned: Ideological congruence and incongruence in party youth wings. European Journal of Political Research, 64(4), 1759-1782. [Link] [PDF]
- Featured in The Australian, ‘Progressive party youth divisions more radical than conservatives’.
McDonnell, D., Ammassari, S., Valbruzzi, M., Bolin, N., Werner, A., Heinisch, R., Jungar, A.-C., & Wegscheider, C. (2025). Inside party youth wings: The YOUMEM project. Party Politics, 31(6), 1049-1063. [Link] [PDF]
Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., & Valbruzzi, M. (2023). It’s about the type of career: The political ambition gender gap among youth wing members. European Journal of Political Research, 62(4), 1054-1077. [Link] [PDF]
Working papers
Seeberg, H. B., McDonnell, D., Ammassari, S., Bolin, N., Heinisch, R., Jungar, A.-C., Valbruzzi, M., Wegscheider, C., & Werner, A. The personal efficacy of party youth wing members. Revise and resubmit.
Abstract
Young people increasingly withdraw from party politics. However, some still join parties because they believe they can influence them to achieve change. We examine this personal efficacy among contemporary youth wing members and ask: what are the individual and party-level factors that influence their personal efficacy? To do so, we combine the “Political Party Database Base” with the largest original survey of youth wing members conducted, covering ~3,600 members of twelve party youth wings in six democracies. We find that young people who are more active are more efficacious and that efficacy drops after joining but eventually increases for members that stay longer. We also find that greater opportunities for the youth wing to be heard by its party fosters more efficacious youth wing members. Our results show that parties which incentivise participation and integrate their youth wings into senior party increase their members’ personal efficacy and nurtures democratic citizens.
Heinisch, R., Wegscheider, C., Werner, A., Ammassari, S., McDonnell, D., & Valbruzzi, M. Ready to party: Explaining electoral and social engagement of youth wing members. Revise and resubmit.
Abstract
Party youth wings are crucial sites of political socialization, yet it remains unclear how members’ motivations to join translate into political activities. This article examines how youth wing members’ career, policy, and social motivations shape engagement, arguing that the translation of motivations into participation is shaped by membership tenure and organizational context, which structure opportunities for networking and recognition. We draw on a survey of over 3,000 members from ten major centre-right and centre-left youth wings in five Western parliamentary democracies. Our analysis shows that social motivations primarily drive social activities without reducing campaign engagement, policy motivations consistently predict both campaigning and social participation, and career motivations influence activity mainly after longer membership. Party ideology moderates these patterns, with centre-right youth wings strengthening the link between policy and career motivations with campaign activity. These findings refine theories of party activism and guide parties in cultivating committed activists and future elites.