Abstract

Youth is the potential which determines the future of the state. In the end of XXth beginning of XXI-st century Central and Eastern European countries experienced transformations of the political systems. Visegrad Group was formed in 1991 to force Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary to the European Union. Despite the importance of a complex of socio-political and economic preconditions of socialist regimes’ collapse, the article shows that it is also necessary to take youth factor into account. Modernization of the principles of relations between authority institutions and citizens required the increasing of the level of youth participation in social and political processes. Also period of 1989-1998 caused the destruction of previously structured, guaranteed by the state forms of the transition from childhood to young adulthood because of the reforms in education and economy. Youth policy principles in V4 countries were paternalistic, presented by a number of specifi laws designed to guarantee the social needs of young people. The article shows effective governmental and nongovernmental institutionalized forms of youth involvement into the processes of social and political modernization, which have been produced and successfully realized during EU-associated period and after the Association Agreement. Here we can mark positive impact of EU institutions on the formation of new youth policy and emphasize the practices of Youth Strategies formation. Also innovative became a new form of cooperation between government and non-governmental umbrella youth organizations – Structured dialogue. Volunteering had become a new phenomenon for youth, and still low participation in volunteer events is noted in V4. Statistic shows that participation in elections among young people remains relatively low, although they have positively attitudes towards the EU than the older generation. New political activities, such as participation in debates, writing petitions and support NGOs entered the youth political culture. Thereby, modernization of political culture in the direction of democratic provided a wide range of opportunities for political participation of young people.