Who is in the “we”? Interrogating the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and youth political participation.

Most analyses of the African Union (AU) focus on the politics of the state and presidents. There are very few analyses that focus on aspects such as youth development. This article departs from that tradition. It argues that although the youth were always part of important historical developments in Africa, they have remained on the periphery. In recent times, particularly since the transformation of the Organization of African Unity into the AU in the 2000s, the youth development agenda has begun to receive attention at the policy level. In 2015, the AU through Agenda 2063 went a step further by elevating youth matters to the mainstream continental policy framework. While these developments are all welcome, it emerges clear that in the arena of youth political participation, the continent remains hesitant. Where the AU and its member states adopt the language and grammar of youth inclusion, of which youth political participation is often limited, such is not met with fitting institutional and practical policy arrangements. This article finds that the African elite is in for a rude awakening, as we have witnessed since 2011, given the discovery by the African youth of new methods of political participation in post-colonial Africa. It advocates for the adoption of the African community outlook to a youth state policy, argues for linking youth to the project of economic freedom, and implores the African elite to embark upon the decolonial project to resolve the bearings of coloniality of being, power and knowledge