Generational Identities of Youth in Key Countries

Exploring age differences in cohorts, particularly for millennials, can illuminate differences between generations and allow for insights into a country’s future policy preferences. For countries such as India, which has a youth cohort that eclipses the United States’ total population, or Iran, where nearly two of three citizens are millennials, cohort analysis is a key technique to analyze foreign policy trends to determine their implications for United States national security interests.

The Capstone team’s focus was to analyze youth attitudes in eight countries: China, India, Egypt, Iran, Italy, France, Turkey, and Brazil. Specifically, the team analyzed critical life-cycle events for each youth cohort, and determined how these events colored the cohort’s view of themselves, their country, and the United States. It further explored how the United States could engage with these youth cohorts to ensure a positive working relationship in the future. The recommendations of the team, while accounting for country-specific differences, were three-fold: 1) utilize the United States’ soft power in the media and entertainment industries 2) initiate trade partnerships with receptive countries and 3) recommit to its previous position of environmental leadership.

Without addressing these concerns and continuing on this same path, the team determined that the United States could expect to see the rise of further economic instability (due to trade wars and protectionism), the rise of global strongmen and their brand of authoritarian leadership, as well as the decline of partnership opportunities due to wavering U.S. interest in environmental and human rights issues.