is there a participation crisis?

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Is there a participation crisis?

Is Britain suffering from a democratic deficit and a political participation crisis?


Lesson Objectives• To examine a range of political participation

• Active citizenship• Electoral turnout• Political party membership• Pressure group membership

• To analyse whether Britain is suffering from a participation crisis


What are the different ways in which people can become politically involved?

• Citizenship – members of a political community have certain rights. E.g. right to live within a particular state and enjoy the rights and benefits. It also implies a sense of obligation, mainly to obey the law. • Political Participation – opportunities for people to become

involved in the political process. Minimum level voting, Highest level is standing for public office.


What is Active Citizenship? • Although it is important that government should be held to account, it is necessary to

impose duties on citizens to prevent governments being swept away by ‘people power’. • Rights – Vote, equal treatment, right to a fair trial. • Obligations – Obey the laws, accept legitimacy of the government, pay taxes. • Blair introduced the idea of active citizenship, which was to be a new kind of obligation.

Although Blair passed the HR Act and the Freedom of Information Act, was anxious that citizens should demonstrate a greater commitment to protecting democracy and community life.

• Active citizenship aimed to balance the extension of individual rights and to preserve and extend a community spirit which he felt had been threatened by the idea of individualism and pursuit of self-interest. People should become more aware of political issues and voting in elections. Be involved in community action. ‘Citizenship education aims to achieve this.’


Electoral ParticipationElectoral Participation in politics is fairly simple, it is essentially voting in an election. In 2010 the voting population of the UK was 45,597,461 of which 65.1% actually bothered to vote. Only the following cannot vote in the UK:• People under 18 years of age• Foreign Nationals (except Commonwealth Countries)• Members of the House of Lords• Prisoners (although this could change)• People convicted of illegal Electoral Practices (e.g. Rigging an Election)That means that 99% of the UK adult population CAN vote, but don’t. We’ll look at why in a minute. But first let’s look at what their voting for!


Electoral Turnout1997- 71.4% 31,286,284 voters

• Highest- Ulster Mid- 86%• Lowest- Leeds Central- 19%

2001- 59.4% 26,368,204 voters• Highest-Ulster Mid- 81%• Lowest- Liverpool Riv- 34%

2005- 61.4% 27,148,510 voters• Highest-Dorset West- 76%• Lowest- Staffordshire South- 34%

2010- 65.1% 29,653,638 voters• Highest- Renewfrewshire East-

77%• Lowest- Manchester Central- 44%


Share of the vote1997• Conservative-

30.7% (165 seats)• Labour- 43.2%

(418 seats)• Lib Dem- 16.8%

(46 seats) 2001• Conservative-

31.7% (166 seats) • Labour 40.7%


(53 seats) 2005• Conservative-

32.4% (198 seats)• Labour- 35.2%


(62 seats) 2010• Conservative -

36.1% (306 seats)

• Labour- 29.0% (258 seats)

• Lib Dem- 23.0% (57 seats)


What evidence is there to suggest that electoral turnout has fallen since 1979?• Electoral turnout at general elections

• 1997: 71%• 2001: 59%• 2005: 61%• 2010: 65%• 2015: 66%

• The United Kingdom ranks as low as number 76 in the world in the ranking of voter turnouts, with Australia on 94.5 – where voting is compulsory – performing best and Mali performing the worst on 21.3.

• Voter turnout has always fluctuated over time• The lowest turnout in a general election was recorded in 1918 at 57.2 %, due to the end of the First World War. • Between 1922 and 1997 turnout remained above 71 %.


Are people identifying less with political parties?• According to the latest party press releases and media estimates (at 11 August 2015):

• The Conservative Party has around 149,800 members, as of December 2013.• The Labour Party has around 270,000 members, as of August 2015.• The Scottish National Party has around 110,000 members, as of June 2015.• The Liberal Democrat Party has 61,000 members, as of May 2015.• UKIP has around 42,000 members, as of January 2015.• The Green Party (England and Wales) has 61,000 members, as of June 2015.

• Membership of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats is at a historic low. In 2015 1.0% of the electorate was a member of these three parties and, in 2011, 0.8%. This compares to 3.8% in 1983.


Are people identifying less with political parties?• Membership of “other” parties has increased markedly in recent

years. • In June 2015 Green Party (England and Wales) membership was

around 61,000, compared to 13,800 in December 2013, while in June 2015 SNP membership was around 110,000, compared to 25,000 in December 2013. UKIP’s membership increased by around 10,000 over the same period, from 32,000 in December 2013 to around 42,000 in January 2015.


What is partisan de-alignment?• People identifying less with political parties.• Identification with political parties has declined over the past thirty years: the

32nd British Attitudes Survey found that in 2014 37% of people identified very or fairly strongly with a political party, compared with 46% in 1987.

• Identification with a political party is particularly low among the young.


What are pressure groups?• A pressure group can be described as an organised group that does not put up

candidates for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. • They can also be described as ‘interest groups’, ‘lobby groups’ or ‘protest groups’. • Some people avoid using the term ‘pressure group’ as it can inadvertently be

interpreted as meaning the groups use actual pressure to achieve their aims, which does not necessarily happen.

• In Britain, the number of political parties is very small, whereas the number of pressure groups runs into thousands; as the membership of political parties has fallen, that of pressure groups has increased.


Why have they become a more important part of British democracy?• More people are joining pressure groups. • This is participation in democracy. • Pressure groups provide a means of popular participation in national politics between

elections. They are sometimes able to gather sufficient support to force government to amend or even scrap legislation.

• Pressure groups also provide a means of participation in local politics between elections.

• Pressure groups also act as a sense of specialist knowledge, and often have access to information that is highly valued by decision makers. In return, these groups have an input into the making of decisions, and they can also receive financial contributions direct from the government.


Democratic DeficitThe Democratic Deficit is a lack of people taking part in political life and a lack of actual power they can use to

influence political decisions


Democratic Deficit & Participation Crisis• Numerous examples of a democratic deficit in the UK:

• non-elected posts in politics e.g. HoL• FPTP disadvantages smaller parties• parliament ineffective in scrutinising government• EU Parliament has jurisdiction over UK parliament

• Evidence for the 'participation crisis‘:• party membership declining – only 500,000 (1.3% of electorate) in 2006. In 1981 it was 1.5m (4% of

electorate). Biggest drop in Tories – gone from 1.25m to 250,000. However, pressure group membership is growing e.g. the RSPB has >1m members

• voter turnout declining – in 1992 general election it was 78%, in 2001 it was 59% and in 2005 it was 61%• partisan dealignment - fewer feel naturally drawn to a particular party and fewer take active interest in

politics. Due to rising income levels blurring class lines.


Participation Crisis; Legitimacy• There has been a decline in levels of trust in government and confidence in

the political system. • Thirty years ago, four in ten people in Britain trusted government to put the

needs of the nation above those of their political party; today, just one in five do so.

• But much of this decline set in during the early 1990s, although trust and confidence have fallen further since 1997.


Participation Crisis; Participation• Turnout has been low in elections held since 1997. This was most noticeably so at the 2001

general election, when the participation rate was the lowest since 1918 (although there was some recovery in the most recent local and European elections).

• At the same time, levels of non-electoral participation have increased somewhat. • Meanwhile, it is not the case that people engage outside the ballot box as an alternative to voting;

rather, most people use non-electoral activities as a complement to participating at elections. • One reason why non-electoral participation has not declined is because people generally feel as

engaged with the political process as they ever did. • Today, people are as likely as previously to believe they possess the skills to participate in politics,

to express levels of interest in politics and to believe in the duty to vote. • On the other hand when it comes to identifying with a political party, fewer people today feel a

sense of attachment than previously


Participation Crisis; Constitutional Change• The constitutional reforms introduced since 1997 were meant to restore citizens’ trust

and confidence in government. • But they appear to have largely failed in this task. • The reforms are not unpopular, but few people believe they have made much of a

difference to the way Britain is governed. • Even the most radical of the reforms—the creation of the Scottish Parliament—has had

only a small effect on citizen attitudes.


Voter Apathy• In politics, voter apathy is perceived apathy (lack of caring) among voters in

an election. • Voter apathy or lack of interest is often cited as a cause of low turnout among eligible

voters in jurisdictions where voting is optional and the donkey vote where voting is compulsory.

• A related term, voter fatigue, describes a possible cause of voter apathy: elections that are held too frequently.

• Voter apathy can be caused by a lack of interest in the candidates that are running in an election, a general feeling that a person’s vote doesn’t matter or even a distrust in regards to how the election is actually being run.

• Many people distrusts politicians and the ‘system’, and many people believe that their vote is worthless in the end. This leads to high levels of voter apathy, especially in local elections.


Apathy or Hapathy?• There is a growing band of academics who believe that their is a rising tide of apathy

particularly in UK Politics. Their main source of evidence comes from the decline in conventional involvement in politics and democracy by the British people. For example in 1992 the turnout at the General Election was 77.2% whereas in 2001 it had fallen to 60% (in 2010 it rose slightly to 65%).

• However is low voter turnout necessarily an indication of apathy? Could it be that we might all just be really happy (known as Hapathy) with the current Government? Or is it us simply accepting what we believe is inevitable?

• What other factors might affect us?• Let’s go out into our communities and find out some more as well!


Generalisations about voters• Intelligent Voters- People who only vote when it matters (i.e. in 2010 when we

needed change) or who don’t vote because they know their vote wont matter in a safe seat (St. Helens North).

• Apathetic Voters- People who can’t be bothered to vote.• Disaffected Voters- People who have lost confidence in politics because of a

scandal (i.e. expenses) or because no party represents their views.• Media-Voters- People who rely on the media to influence their vote. If they are

not told by the media, they won’t vote.


But…• However we can’t just dismiss all these people and make sweeping statements about

Britain going to the dogs etc.• In 2006 the POWER Report however responded by saying this:“Contrary to much of the public debate around political disengagement, the British public are not apathetic. There is now a great deal of research evidence to show that very large

numbers of citizens are engaged in community and charity work outside of politics”• Basically the report says that we’re all more interested in local and community issues

than politics.• Do you agree?


Is Britain facing a crisis of democracy?

Read the research project: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/spp/publications/unit-publications/112.pdf

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/spp/publications/unit-publications/112.pdf

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/spp/publications/unit-publications/112.pdf


Is Britain suffering from a participation crisis?Arguments for Britain suffering from a participation crisis…

Arguments against Britain suffering from a participation crisis…