RevDem Podcast · Review of Democracy

Why Gen-Z is Rising: Erica Chenoweth and Matthew Cebul on How We Might be Witnessing a Profound Gen¬erational Transformation

·31 min·1 clip

In Nepal, “Nepo kid” images and a 10-times-minimum housing subsidy helped spark protests.

1. RevDem Podcast’s “Why Gen Z is Rising” centers on Gen Z protests in Nepal, Indonesia, Peru, Morocco, the Philippines, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Bulgaria. 2. Ferenc Lotzl hosts Erika Chenoweth of Harvard’s Kennedy School and Matthew Cebul of the Nonviolent Action Lab, both of whom co-authored the article in the Journal of Democracy. 3. The episode asks what Gen Z protesters are like, why their movements spread, and whether youth-led mobilization is changing politics. 4. Matthew Cebul says Gen Z protest cases differ by country, citing student-led mobilization in Jakarta, civic-group protests in Nepal, and youth-driven anti-corruption mobilization in Peru. 5. He says young people and students often lead protest waves because they may be more risk-acceptant, more exposed to economic precarity, and less constrained by nine-to-five work. 6. Erika Chenoweth adds that earlier youth uprisings often centered on clear economic grievances, while newer ones are more directly framed as abuse of power. 7. Cebul points to youth unemployment of about 20 percent in Nepal, over 30 percent in Peru, and a pension reform law that required people to pay into pensions they did not benefit from. 8. He says corruption gives the protests a transnational character, whether through “Nepo kid” imagery in Nepal, a housing subsidy in Indonesia, or fraud in Philippine flood-control projects. 9. Chenoweth contrasts this wave with the mid-2000s and early 2010s, when triggers more often involved fraudulent elections or state violence against unarmed people. 10. She says one case involved “two billion U.S. dollars” disappearing, which she treats as a new kind of destabilizing revelation. 11. Chenoweth cites 2023 research with Zoe Marks, Jonathan Pinckney, and Miranda Rivers showing a descriptive correlation between high youth participation and movements ousting incumbents. 12. She says that short-term victories do not guarantee youth representation afterward, and that young people can be left behind unless they stay organized during transition. 13. Chenoweth says campaigns with high youth participation are more likely to face state violence, which she treats as a human rights concern. 14. She argues that nonviolent discipline helps keep broad pro-democracy coalitions together and makes it easier to bring in regime supporters under fair rules. 15. Cebul says spontaneous Gen Z mobilizations can be hard to discipline, using Nepal’s rapid shift from peaceful mobilization to citywide riots and burned government buildings as an example. 16. He says Bangladesh in 2024 shows how police repression can inflame violence, and that “once the genie is out of the bottle, it's tough to stuff it back in.” 17. Chenoweth says the last 15 years saw a decline in mass nonviolent campaign success rates, but 2025 may mark a reversal after earlier outlier cases such as Sri Lanka. 18. Cebul argues that youth-led protests also challenge the idea that young people are politically apathetic, because they are risking their lives to express values and demands. 19. The tone is analytical and interview-based, with Ferenc Lotzl guiding a detailed comparative discussion across cases and research findings. 20. Listeners interested in youth politics and protest movements will get the most from it; listeners wanting light commentary or a short news recap may skip it.

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