Engaging the Masses: How Has British Political Participation Changed?
At the heart of all of democracy is the basic fundamental and foundational principle of political participation. It is the idea that each and every citizen has a voice which matters and the basic right to express their opinion. Political participation is paramount in British politics and is approached with the great importance as Britain aims to better its diversity, representation and inclusivity in politics.
Photo: Youth Partnership, 2020
Political participation is defined as ‘broad range of activities through which people develop and express their opinions on the world and how it is governed, and try to take part in and shape the decisions that affect their lives’ (Khasnabis, 1970). It is ‘those activities by private citizens that are more or less directly aimed at influencing the selection of governmental personnel and/or the actions they take’ (Verba & Nie, 1972: 2) The activities can range majorly. van Deth (2016: 1) argues that ways in which the public can voice their opinions are ‘virtually infinite and includes actions such as voting, demonstrating, contacting public officials, boycotting, attending party rallies, guerrilla gardening, posting blogs, volunteering, joining flash mobs, signing petitions, buying fair-trade products, and even suicide protests’.
In recent times, one can notice a shift in the way that the public engages in politics. The Activist Handbook (2020) defined activism in its most basic form as ‘action taken to create social change’. Activism has been a useful tool in allowing individuals to participate in creating national change, leaving the long-standing approach of political parties addressing issues. This has been done through individuals coming together as a collective to address societal issues for greater good (Norris , 2004). Activism as a form of political engagement has risen in popularity due to the dissatisfaction amongst the public with their respective political parties.
Looking at Figure 1, one can see the dissatisfaction of the public opinion on the how effective their democracy is in their respective country. A poll which surveyed people from twenty seven different countries showed a result of 51% of people ‘Not Satisfied’ and just 45% of people ‘Satisfied’, with those responding ‘Don’t Know’ not being included in the data. Furthermore applying this to the United Kingdom, data shows that the public have lost trust in the government over time.
Figure 2 – Decline in Trust in Government Falling Figure 3 – Decline in Voter Turnout
Analysing the figures above, one can see the correlation between the decline in trust in government and decline in voter turnout in elections. One can use the combination of these two sets of data to why the emergence of activism and grassroots movements has gained in popularity. Studies undertaken by Edelman, surveying ten thousand people, shows that seventy percent of people in Gen Z are ‘involved in a social or political cause’ showing the rise in the younger generation and social movement activism.
Photo – Colin Lloyd, 2021
An example of effective activism is the Black Lives Matter movement. Following the murder of George Floyd, the public came together to show their support towards the Black Lives Matter movement, taking to the streets to raise awareness for racial and social justice. Organisation of peaceful protests, demonstrations and social media campaigns all contributed to the introduction of better policing practices and for policing authorities to be held more liable for their actions. This led to the introduction of a commission into racial inequality at a cross-governmental level, looking into why disparities exist and setting out to make positive change to get rid of these. This is an example of the meaningful change that can come from activism which may not have arisen from political campaigning. However, this is only one positive example of activism. Once could argue that other activist groups including Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain can be disruptive to society instead of beneficial leading to decline in public support.
To conclude, political participation still holds a very important place in society today. However, it has a slightly different approach compared to its traditional appearance. It is easy to see as to why the public have fallen out of favour with the traditional political processes. Decline in trust of the government paired with a decrease in the voter turnout has led to the growth in use of activism to create social change. Using the example of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is clear to see the positive social change which can arise through activism.
Bibliography:
Khasnabis, C. (1970) Political participation, Community-Based Rehabilitation: CBR Guidelines. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310967/ (Accessed: 21 April 2024).
Norris , P. (2004) Young People & Political Activism. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237832623_Young_People_Political_Activism (Accessed: 21 April 2024).
The Activist Handbook (no date) What is activism?, What is activism? | Activist Handbook. Available at: https://activisthandbook.org/theory/what-is-activism (Accessed: 22 April 2024).
van Deth, J.W. (2016) ‘What is political participation?’, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, pp. 1–17. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.68.
Verba, S. and Nie, N.H. (1972) Participation in america: Political democracy and social equality. Harper & Row.
Overall, this is a detailed post and articulated well. It appreciates the newfound role of political participation and activism in modern society. There is effective use of references as well as data throughout. In addition to this, the appreciation there is an intrinsic link between a decline in voter turnout and distrust of the government itself. However, it would’ve been worthwhile to suggest reasons why the relationship between government distrust and the decline in voter turnout has arisen.
Furthermore, it would have also been useful to highlight some forms of negative political activism, whilst participation is encouraged it can be counterproductive. This may be in the form of violent protesting or other disruptive tactics. I feel this could’ve been useful to explore, especially in contemporary politics with activist movements such as “Just Stop Oil” we can see the negative use of disruptive tactics.
Ultimately, this is a well-constructed blog post including beneficial and informative diagrams and supporting evidence as to how the UK’s political involvement has altered.
This blog post structures it’s argument well using statistical analysis to demonstrate the changes within political participation in the UK and the factors that have caused this change. The first set of figures displayed demonstrates the publics belief on the effects of democracy, which the author of this blog post uses to explain a dissatisfaction of voters within democracy across the world with a majority of 51% being dissatisfied. The author then uses 2 separate sets of figures to demonstrate the decline of government trust and the decline in voter turnout within the UK, correlating these factors together and demonstrating the emergence of un-institutional forms of participation emerging and becoming more popular recently using the Black Lives Matter protest to demonstrate this. This blog post to further its argument could also focus on other forms of non-institutionalised forms of participation, for instance petitions, along with focusing on ways institutions are trying to limit political protest like ‘The Public Order Act’.