Youth-led anti-government protests in South Asia and some other parts of the world made headlines over the past one year or so. Generation Z (born 1997-2012) was at the forefront of most protests – be it in the streets of Kathmandu, Antananarivo, Rabat, Lima and Istanbul last year or in New Delhi this year — triggered by different issues, from economic inequality to misgovernance and political apathy to the lack of accountability.

The Cockroach Janta Party-led protests in India that demanded reform of the country’s education system led to a cabinet minister’s resignation. In Nepal, Bangladesh (in 2024) and Sri Lanka (2022), governments were toppled. Youth protests in Indonesia continue since 2025.

Gen Z is seen as a political force that will likely change even relations among countries later, experts say.

Harvard University professor Erica Chenoweth and research fellow Matthew Cebul, who have reviewed patterns in Gen Z-led protests alongside trends in youth protest over time, wrote in January that Gen Z may be experiencing a global political awakening.

By their estimate, young people constitute a large and growing demographic: some 2.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 29, or roughly one-third of the global population.

Another recent study, by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US-based think tank, said today’s youth protests will fundamentally reshape tomorrow’s foreign policy by forcing governments to pivot from traditional defence-centric diplomacy to systemic human security. As Gen Z and subsequent cohorts transition into leadership roles, their collective experiences with decentralised, digital mobilisation are dismantling standard international relations frameworks.

Human security

That Gen Z is a political force, especially in the developing world, is not in contention but how its members will effect change in geopolitics is the question.

In recent years, youth protests have impacted geopolitics. Young people, across regions, are frustrated with corruption, inequality and political systems that seem unaccountable and they powerfully connect to global debates, Amitabh Mattoo, dean, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, said.

“Their protests may be sparked off locally, but their political vocabulary is increasingly global.”

Youth movements produce transformational change, with long-term impact on the geopolitical landscape, Hebatallah Adam, director, Jindal Centre for the Global South, O P Jindal University, Sonipat, Haryana, said.

Adam, an Egyptian academic who works in India, referred to the Arab Spring (2010-12) — a wave of pro-democracy, anti-government protests that started in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and other parts of North Africa and West Asia, deposing many autocratic leaders in its wake. 

The movement had started as a youth-led protest against domestic challenges — inequalities and government corruption — but morphed into something larger. In Egypt, for instance, it led to not just political transition but also changed relations with other countries, including the great powers such as the US and China, as well as middle powers like India, Adam said.

But within the region, the Arab Spring struggled to produce a sustained democratic transition that many protestors had hoped for.

Young people, like others, are witnessing confrontational foreign policies, more so since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025. In addition, the US-China rivalry has created geopolitical uncertainty even when the two economies remain connected. Two actual wars continue.

With decision-making power in the years ahead, will Gen Z change diplomacy?

“I hope they can create a better world but we should not idealise or romanticise the young. They are not homogenous and sometimes can be both cosmopolitan and pragmatic but also strongly nationalist,” Mattoo said.

Although compared to the earlier generations, one thing going for Gen Z is a lesser burden of history.

In South Asia, without the memory of Partition, and old wars, they could potentially create space for a more functional, less emotional approach to relations between neighbours, Mattoo said. “But the jury is still out.”

Adam is optimistic.

Gen Z is digitally savvy and communicates across borders. Local issues can be different but the cohort’s approach to cultural content is similar in different countries, she said, giving the example of Instagram reels — “they might appear simple but carry deep meaning”.

Adam said in the next 10-15 years, “we will see a willingness among countries towards pragmatic relations, and possibly even attempts to erase legacy issues in geopolitics”.

According to an Encyclopedia Britannica entry, driven by digital interconnectedness and economic exclusion (in many cases), the generational shift reflects the emergence of a new global political consciousness that is likely to shape world politics in the coming decades.

The orthodox separation between interests and values is becoming much harder to sustain in a world with multiple planetary crisis. Tomorrow’s leaders should judge partnerships not merely by military strength but also by technology, climate performance, mobility, openness and economic opportunity. In turn, alliances will become more flexible and much more issue-based, Mattoo said.

Traditional foreign policy priorities such as defence will make room for other forms of diplomacy.

National security today is about much more than tanks, aircraft and borders. Climate, technology, data, supply chains, health and critical minerals have all become strategic questions, Mattoo said.

“Defence will remain central, but the definition of security itself is expanding dramatically. Comprehensive security and human security are part of the mainstream vocabulary in international relations.”

Traditional defence diplomacy will change, Adam said. Newer human-security issues have emerged. Other than climate and technology, food security and energy security, which has been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war since 2022 and the Iran war this year, are among current geopolitical challenges that Gen Z will have to better handle later.

A recent UNICEF report, titled, “Youth, protests and the polycrisis,” says protests have become a preferred method of political engagement by young people and an expression of their future aspirations. Its main findings: protests on global issues, such as against climate change or racism, including through transnational youth-led movements, have increased.

Digital technologies and platforms are increasingly used by young people, bringing innovation to protests, fostering inclusivity and lowering the costs of organising movements, though not without risks such as state surveillance. Governments are more prone to repress mass protests pre-emptively and violently when they involve young people, the report said.

Global south

During the Arab Spring, poor governance, leadership issues and economic repression were important factors for protestors. But with the digital world advancing since, the youth in Asia or Africa are able to exchange ideas by connecting with their counterparts elsewhere immediately today, Adam said.

Most recent protests have occurred in developing countries for a host of reasons: economic (poverty and unemployment), political — how power is exercised — or systemic inequalities or incompetence. While protests in the global south have largely been against governments on local issues, those in the global north have taken up wider issues such as wars in distant lands. Unlike their peers in developing countries, young people in the US have not led recent mass protests.

The No Kings protests  — held one day each in June and October last year and in March this year — against Trump’s expansion of executive powers, for instance, is an example.

“Youth protestors are not a political force on their own today in the US,” Thomas Carothers, director, Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program, Carnegie, said, adding that many young people participate, such as in the No Kings protests, but usually alongside other people.

On the other hand, young people working as political activists are a major reason behind the surge of democratic socialism in the US, he said.

Foreign policy has not featured prominently in protests in the US, involving young people, other than the Israel-Palestine issue.

Youth movements in the global south seem often to be related to anger over corruption. This is less of an issue in youth movements in the US. Youth movements in some global south countries, like Nepal, have become very strong in a short time, he said. “This has not happened in the US.”

Trump has accelerated uncertainty in the world by questioning assumptions about alliances, trade and the international order. But the deeper problem is structural, Mattoo said.

“US primacy is being contested, China has risen, Russia remains disruptive, and middle powers are asserting greater autonomy.”

In December, the US National Security Strategic mentioned the term global south.

The US and the European Union (EU) view the global south mostly through the lens of resources or competition with China, Adam said. The EU, for instance, talks to Africa but is focused on security and trade. “They want to stop migration to Europe from Africa.”

The West, she said, doesn’t understand the aspirations of the global south — that they want a voice in global institutions and in the United Nations system. In the future, the youth of the global south will have to consider such issues, including China’s role in world affairs.

At present, China has support in the developing world primarily because of its investments but countries are “experiencing an awakening — they are fed up of the dependence model”, Adam said.

“It was the West earlier, now it’s China. ‘Strategic diversification’ is necessary. Of course, China will be important, but so will other countries, including India.”

She said the Arab Spring had resulted in reshaping foreign policies in the region. China will remain indispensable and deeply feared at the same time, Mattoo said.

“No major economy can simply disengage from it, yet few want excessive dependence upon it. The likely future is neither containment nor complete accommodation, but a complicated mixture of competition, engagement and risk reduction.”

Meanwhile, India will seek “strategic autonomy” but without “strategic isolation”. It will work closely with the US and the West, retain important relationships with Russia, compete and engage with China, and give greater attention to its neighbourhood and the global south, he said.

The Harvard scholars Chenoweth and Cebul, who studied global trends in youth protest, found that Gen Z movements tend to be decentralised, without a leader or hierarchical structure. Young people often prefer horizontal ties and digital organising, which can make their movements quicker to mobilise, more responsive, and harder to repress. Many Gen Z protests aren’t specifically about democracy, even if they’re fighting for democratic ideals; they’re more focused on socioeconomic issues, inequality, corruption and nepotism.

“Gen Z movements are succeeding even as democratic backsliding continues worldwide, but it is too early to know whether their efforts will lead to lasting change.”