every well known YA author I can think of off the top of my head has shit politics. Also most examples of YA I know of have shit politics story wise too.

This is true for books of all genres in the global north I think.

what specifically about them makes them for “young adults”?

That’s a good question, and I’m sure the definition is controversial (like all genre definitions). I haven’t read this too closely because I’m hexbearing at work, but I found this article which is probably a good starting place: https://www.tckpublishing.com/young-adult-fiction/