For decades, the international community has categorised children and young people in conflict zones as either ‘the future’ or as passive victims in need of protection. But a groundbreaking new study published in the International Political Sociology Journal argues that this perspective, what researchers call the ‘Adult Gaze’, is preventing the world from learning vital lessons about war and peace.
The article, is titled "The Adult Gaze: Looking Again at Children and Young People in Peace and Conflict," and is co-authored by Dr Patricia Nabuco Martuscelli and a global team of researchers including Professor Alice König, Dr Rebecca Sutton, Dr Jana Tabak, Ali Altiok, Tugce Ataci, Dr J Marshall Beier and Mehmet Ilhanli. It challenges the ‘adultist’ frameworks that dominate global politics and calls for a fundamental shift in how we engage with youth voices.
The core of the study’s argument is that by labelling children as the future, adults inadvertently dismiss their current lived experiences and expertise. By focusing on what children will become, the researchers argue, the international community overlooks the sophisticated political insights they already possess. The study suggests that children are not just inheriting the results of adult decisions; they are active future-makers who often see through the ridiculousness of war with more clarity than those in power.
The researchers describe the ‘Adult Gaze’ as a lens that filters young people’s contributions through adult expectations. Even when youth are invited to participate in peace summits or policy forums, their presence is often symbolic.
The study highlights several key barriers:
- Marginalisation: Youth voices are routinely excluded from high-level conversations on security.
- A ‘Mediated’ Archive: Even when children’s voices are collected, such as in art or poetry competitions, they are often edited or curated by adults, blurring the line between genuine youth perspective and adult influence.
Subconscious Dismissal: The study notes that even when children’s words are heard, they are rarely ‘listened to’ as serious intellectual contributions.
The authors conclude by advocating for a model of collaboration, where adults use their power to dismantle the very barriers that keep young people on the sidelines and children and youth are taking seriously in different arena Dr Martuscelli’s research has advocated the use of innovative creative methodologies to listen to displaced children and deal with the ‘Adult Gaze’.
As global conflicts continue to evolve, the study suggests that the most innovative solutions for peace may not come from traditional diplomats, but from the very people the world has spent decades telling to wait their turn.
Read the full journal article: The Adult Gaze: Looking Again at Children and Young People in Peace and Conflict. International Political Sociology, Volume 20, Issue 3 . König, Alice, et al. (2026)
