International research into democracy has uncovered severe changes in patterns of political engagement and participation. Even political institutions such as political parties and voluntary organisations have undergone major alterations. Scandinavian democracies hitherto have been regarded as exceptionally stable and strong due to their homogenous qualities of mass-based class politics, strong political parties, high degree of associationalism, peaceful labour market relations and developed welfare policies. However, three official democratic audits recently revealed that Scandinavian democracies have also been severely affected by both exogenous and endogenous constraints. In addition, Scandinavian democracies appear to be diverging heterogeneously from the assumed 'pan-Scandinavian' model. This article examines whether the distinctive country characteristics uncovered by the commissions can be traced among young adults. Three dimensions of attitudes of young adults are analysed - political trust, political engagement and political equality - using survey data obtained from students in academic programmes at the upper secondary level in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in 2000. Generally, the results not only confirm a country diversity that threatens to jeopardise Scandinavian homogeneity, since the Danes stand out as superior in most measures of political participation, but also, from an international perspective, young Scandinavians cannot be characterised as the most politically interested or participative between elections or even as the most multiculturally tolerant among today's youth.
