Authors: Ananya Shetty & Srushti Shisodiya | Students, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune

Abstract

The free expression of political opinion is considered foundational to demo cratic socities; it is commonly reflected through observable behaviour such as voting, protesting,campaigning and public discussion. However, young citizens increasingly choose to stay silent in public spaces including family conversations, friendships, university campuses and digital platforms. This phenomenon of political self censorship which represents a significant yet under-examined challenge to democratic participation. This study examines the socio-political and psychological, institutional and structural forces. Drawing on the spiral of silence theory and socio-psychological frameworks of self censorship this paper adopts a mixed method approach, combining a systematic literature review with a questionnaire based survey. This study investigates how fear of isolation, conflict, judgement, online backlash shapes political silence among young citizens. While also exploring how gender, political identity, ideological minority status shape whose voices are expressed or suppressed in democratic spaces. Particular attention is given to the role of the digital environment where polarization, echo chamber and online toxicity may encourage selective expression or silence. While self censorship can function as a strategy of self protection it also limits civic engagement, reduces viewpoint diversity and weakens democracy. By examining the cause of political silence, the research seeks to understand how self censorship shapes democratic participation amongyoung citizens.