To What Extent Does Democracy in the Uk Suffer from a Participation Crisis?

To what extent does democracy in the UK suffer from a ‘participation crisis’?

Adam Master 12H2

The UK suffers from a participation crisis to quite a large extent at the moment, however the shift from one kind of participation to another may change this in time to come. In the UK, the level of political participation is primarily measured by the turnout in general elections, although there are other means by which a person can be politically active such as party membership. In recent years, turnout is decreasing and party membership is also declining. However, you could argue that the extent to which these factors affect the ‘participation crisis’ can be overshadowed by the fact that there has been an increase in other political activities such as protest politics and the development of pressure groups in recent years. It could also be argued that there is growing political apathy or maybe that this political disengagement is just a phase between the shift of one kind of participation to another. It is difficult to decide whether the ‘crisis’ is due to the apathetic nature of modern society or an issue of the outdated democratic system that currently serves us and dictates UK politics.

As a representative democracy, elections are the cornerstone of democracy in the UK. The electoral turnout at general elections must therefore be a significant indication of the health of the democratic system. There is substantial evidence to suggest that the UK is a victim of decreasing levels of voter participation. Turnout over the past three general elections (2015-66.1%, 2010-65.1%, 2005-61.4%) has been significantly lower than the average turnout between 1945 and 1997 which is 76.2%. Turnout on election day has been on a steady decline since the 1960s which the occasional fluctuation appearing in 1974 and 1992. The 2001 general election was the lowest ever recorded turnout since universal voting began (59.38%). Although the labour party attempted to provide an argument for this result in the form of ‘Hapathy’, there was never really a valid explanation. With the UK having a voter turnout of 35.60% at the European Elections compared to a country like Belgium with 90%, it is hard to ignore the fact that there may be a participation crisis. As electoral turnout at general elections is such an important indication of how healthy a democratic system is, we can see that democracy in the UK suffers from a participation crisis to a large extent based on this analysis.

Nevertheless, you could argue that in the last 16 years, turnout levels at general elections have risen suggesting that there is some hope for political participation to continue increasing and un label the UK as suffering from a ‘participation crisis’. Turnout at the 2005 election was 61.4%, which was about 2% higher than the 2001 general election and this percentage has only increased in the 2010 and 2015 general elections. This slight increase could suggest that despite the record low turnout in 2001, political engagement is getting better in terms of voting. From these very recent figures, you could argue that the UK suffers from a ‘participation crisis’ to a lesser extent than before, and is only improving according to turnouts at recent general elections. Based on the fact that recent turnouts at general elections are increasing by each election, I believe that the UK is moving away from being in a state of a ‘participation crisis’. However, the turnouts are only increasing at a small rate and so we cannot be sure about the future of voting. This uncertainty leads me to think that we are still suffering from a ‘participation crisis’ to a certain extent, a least less than before when turnout at the 2001 general election left people with little faith in the democratic system.

Another argument to suggest the fact that the UK suffers from a ‘participation crisis’ to quite a large extent is the fact that political party membership has decreased for a number of reasons and society seems to be lacking social cohesion as of recent. The disillusionment of the public catalyses the rejection of politics in today’s society. The way people like to blame MPs and political parties for anything negative that happens shows how ‘out of touch’ the people are with politics. This is voter apathy. Many people believe that their vote won’t count and therefore they don’t need to vote at an election and even be involved with anything politics related. A reason for the suffer in active participation may be due to the decrease of ‘social capital’. People less trust each other and lack social connectedness. Growing materialism and individualism shows that people are more concerned with themselves rather than the larger society. This may also be a reason for a decline in political party membership in the last 50 years, with now fewer than 1% of the public being member of political parties. However, Labour party membership is the only one which has increased signifying that they are attracting members with their new leader, Jeremy Corbyn. With most parties becoming more centrist and the outermost edges of the political spectrum slowly dissolving, joining a party doesn’t really allow a person to express their political view so they are increasingly becoming a more pointless concept. The ever-decreasing trust in MPs can also be to blame, who are often labelled as having a focus on self-interests. They tend to be liable to the people before elections to gain more votes however their interests shift from the people to their party and parliament. A key example of this is linked to the demonstration against war in Iraq in 2003. The media also shines a negative light on politicians focusing on scandals and failures which has an influence on the people. There is no room for double analysis when people have been fed information from the media. It is also the case with smaller elections where media coverage of them is limited and so people are ill-informed about such elections. Many people also see Labour and Conservative (the two major parties) to be very much the same. Nearly half of the population cannot see the difference between them compared to the 22% of people back in 1997 who saw a distinctive difference. People don’t feel they need to participate as their lives will go on much the same, also a reason for lower turnouts at general elections.