The theme of this issue of Perspectives on youth is “Connections and disconnections”. Our authors have contributed articles on migration, employment mobility, new familial relations, the Internet and new media, young people’s social and political engagement, their connections with their own countries, with Europe or the wider world, and intercultural contacts in general, and others besides.

They address the potential benefts but also the tensions and contradictions that are inherent in contemporary social, cultural, economic and technological changes. Such changes are creating opportunities for young people to connect in new and positive ways with other young people, with their families and communities and with social institutions, in ways that increasingly “cross borders” of various kinds. But it is also clear that these changes do not always take place in a smooth or mutually complementary way: expanded opportunities are not necessarily enhanced opportunities; increased participation in education has not translated into more and better employment prospects; societies and communities are increasingly diverse and yet some perceive this as a threat rather than an opportunity. A related question arises as to whether the policies that are designed both to shape and respond to young people’s circumstances and the resulting practices are themselves appropriately connected or disconnected with each other.

Perspectives on youth is published by the partnership of the European Union and the Council of Europe in the feld of youth with the support of fve countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to bring national youth policies closer together and to keep the dialogue on key problems of child and youth policy on a solid foundation in terms of content, expertise and politics. The series aims to act as a forum for information, discussion, refection and dialogue on European developments in the feld of youth policy, youth research and youth work and to contribute to the development and promotion of a youth policy and of a youth work practice that is based on knowledge and participatory principles. It is also intended to be a forum for peer-learning between member states of the European Union and the Council of Europe.