Beyond the Ballot Box: Development of Political participation
Introduction
In the UK, formal political engagement has declined in certain areas during the past 50 years, notably political party membership. However, new modes of engagement have also evolved, such as internet activism, which could become more significant in the future, particularly for younger generations. This blog piece explores recent shifts in political participation, focusing on the new forms of engagement that are emerging and the implications on the future of UK democratic systems.
New political participation
There is a long history of non-formal political expression via art, protests, and boycotts. These forms are often the foundation of new informal political practices, which are often facilitated or aided by social media. As a result of this, planning and taking part in protests has become easier and cheaper, and activists are no longer required to physically be present for them to act collectively. Rather than party politics or established ideological organisations, specific issues and particular identities are frequently the centre of informal participation.
Below are two examples that will continue to gain more significance throughout the course of the next few years.
Online activism
The term “online activism” describes the growing trend of using the internet to plan, coordinate, take part in protests and have an impact on political decision-making. These protests are typically focused on specific concerns and lack a centralised organisation. It includes a broad range of activities that can be fully online or promote engagement in more conventional political events like protest marches. For instance, the UK advocacy group 38 Degrees, which has a platform of several million members, uses the internet to let members debate and cast votes on the problems that the group will focus on. In the UK, social change, political participation, and public discourse have all been significantly impacted by online activism. Firstly, it has made participation more democratic by enabling people to use online petitions, social media, and other channels to mobilise support and voice their concerns. This has increased people’s knowledge and involvement in a variety of fields, including human rights and environmental conservation (Ghobadi, Clegg, 2015).
Furthermore, marginalised groups can confront social injustices and magnify their voices thanks to online activism. Campaigners have raised awareness of topics like gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and racial injustice through hashtags, viral initiatives, and online forums. This has encouraged discussion and pushed for legislative changes (Tan, 2023).
Political consumerism
Political consumerism is the practice of buyers choosing products according to their political or moral beliefs about how companies and governments should act. It combines the relatively new phenomenon of “buycotting,” which is the deliberate purchase of a product, with the longer-standing trend of “boycotting,” which is the refusal to shop at a particular store or buy a product solely based on the political views of the company (Gotlieb, Cheema,2017).
In recent years, Consumers in the UK have started boycotting businesses they believe to be involved in unethical behaviour or to be supporting contentious causes. For instance, accusations of environmental damage or sweatshop labour have led to boycotts of specific apparel brands. Social media sites frequently have a significant impact on planning and promoting these kinds of boycotts (Nonomura, 2017). Another example of this is in the last few years is the rise of boycotting of businesses depending on their stance on conflicts like Ukraine and Russia for example.
These few examples show just how political consumerism has become a significant force in shaping consumer behaviour and influencing corporate practices and public policies in the UK.
Consequences of Informal Participation
In the UK, there are a lot of useful and negative effects from informal political participation. Positively, non-formal involvement such as grassroots movements, community activism, and social media campaigns can encourage people to feel more involved in their community and give them more power to express their thoughts and effect change. In addition, it can support communities that are underrepresented in raising awareness of their issues and fighting for their rights, fostering a more democratic and inclusive society.
However, there can be drawbacks to non-formal involvement as well. Informal engagement can occasionally result in polarisation and a spread of false information, especially in online settings where echo chambers can amplify extreme opinions and stifle polite conversation. Furthermore, because informal participation frequently lacks the structure and organisation required to successfully affect government decisions, it may not always produce visible policy change. Participants may get frustrated and disillusioned as a result, which could undermine their faith in the democratic process and discourage them from getting involved more.
Ultimately, even though unofficial engagement can be a useful instrument for democratic expression, it is critical to acknowledge its limitations and strive toward encouraging younger generations to participate formally in politics.
Bibliography.
Ghobadi, S. Clegg, S. (2015). These Days will Never be Forgotten…”: A Critical Mass Approach to Online Activism. Information and Organisation. 25 (1): 52-71.
Gotlieb, M. R. and Cheema, S. E. (2017) ‘From consumer to producer: motivations, internet use, and political consumerism’, Information, Communication & Society, 20(4), pp. 570–586.
Nonomura, R. (2017) ‘Political consumerism and the participation gap: are boycotting and ‘buycotting’ youth-based activities?’, Journal of Youth Studies, 20(2), pp. 234–251.
Tan, C. S. L. (2023) ‘The times they are a-changing: examining the effects of luxury brand activism on political consumerism and eWOM’, Journal of Strategic Marketing, pp. 1–20.
38 Degrees, (2024).Home – 38 Degrees . Accessed on 22/04/24
In this blog post they bring up an interesting idea that I had not thought about, how political engagements has changed in the modern world. They bring up interesting ideas on how the internet allows more people access to political movements, but they also analyse this point by highlighting how false information is being spread online. The blog post also focuses on political boycotting which is something that is very relevant at the minute. In the future I would make sure to include more specific examples of both online activism and political consumerism. An example of online activism was the Black Lives Matter movement which gained much international attention in 2020. The internet was used to organise protests across the world for the cause. When looking at boycotts against brand that have happened, one famous one is when many brands pulled branches out of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These included McDonalds and Coca-Cola.
Overall, this article discusses an interesting topic which is very relevant to today’s world. I also found that this was a new way of looking at political participation.
The Author of this blog post successfully devolves into the constantly changing landscape of political participation within the United Kingdom (UK). This blog post is very well structured with a great analysis of the changing dynamics of political participation from an era of political party participation through membership into contemporary methods such as online activism and political consumerism. The inclusion of the potential drawbacks of the informal political participation that does not originate from sources such as political parties is a great addition, by highlighting the risk of misinformation through in informal participation, the author shows an extensive understanding of the topic at hand. What may have been beneficial to the argument of this blog post would be the inclusion of expanded case studies of online activism or another form of informal political participation, for example a case that is propagated by a grassroots group of individuals, rather than by a large advocacy group. Such as, for example the effect of online activism on the global youth-led climate strikes of 2019
https://medium.com/@TomLiacas/supporting-grassroots-justice-oriented-activists-around-the-world-a-years-worth-of-learnings-e685407eb4ba
I enjoyed this post as the discussion of how online activism has changed politics and political participation is a particularly salient one. The discussion of the pros and cons of the changing activism world shows both a move to an accessible world and maybe a less impactful one. The impact of mass influence is discussed throughout from protests to hashtags and boycotts, I think this is an especially interesting idea concerning the Palestine and Israel war, the impact of online activism as a way of getting involved in international politics is something that hasn’t been done before. As mentioned it does have harmful side effects which are highlighted well within the post, I would like to know how they think politicians should use online forms of participation to their strength for the upcoming election.