What is the main reason for the loss of faith and interest in our Political System?

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Independent Research Project

What is the main reason for the loss of faith and interest in our Political System?

Luke Allington



Acknowledgments:

I want to take this opportunity to thank those who helped me to create this piece of work, and those who gave me the encouragement to carry on when I thought it had me beat. Thanks to those who completed questionnaires which made it possible for me to gain primary data, and gave me a lot of ‘food for thought’ during the investigation.

I’d like to Acknowledge the great support given by the Aylesbury College, not just throughout this project, but throughout the whole year, without the support from the staff, both the Tutors, and administration assistants, I would not be on the verge of becoming a ‘tax-dodging University student’.

I wish to show gratitude to my Father who introduced me to Radio 4, which was broadcasting at the right place, at the right time, and really helped to give me inspiration on this piece of work. My Mother must receive praise for constantly reminding about ‘keeping up with the work’, and also for keeping me well fed and watered throughout.

And finally special consideration and thanks must be given to Sarah Giles, George Tyrell, and Paul Hughes, all of whom helped to motivate me and to re-assure me during the stressful times.

Thank you all.

Executive Summary:

The following piece of work is a study into some of the reasons why Britain has seen such a decline in the interest of Government and Politics, and the effects that this dis-interest has caused, including some raw data showing recent general election turnouts. I have conducted some primary research and analysed some of the results, as well as giving my opinions of how the research might have been carried out in a more efficient way in the recommendations. Finally I have included conclusions and evaluations of both the research that I have carried out, and the topic in general including some general ideas that have been put forward in order to increase the currently low attendance of voters at the more recent general elections.


Introduction:

With the current affairs of the Government of the day featuring so frequently in today’s media, not only for the legislation it puts through parliament and presents for debate, but also, and more prominently perhaps, for the scandal and negative behaviour of ministers and members of parliament both in the executive and in the opposition, it is no wonder that the general consensus is that the people of England and Wales have lost enthusiasm for democracy and our government, and that faith in politics is at what seems to be an all time low.

Aim:

 As a topic in heated debate at the moment, the question which this report will pose and will attempt to answer is: What is the main reason for the loss of faith and interest in our political system?  The report will look at both primary and secondary sources of data in order to answer this question as well as proving the hypothesis of the investigation either right or wrong.

Hypothesis:

The main reason for the loss of faith in the government of the day is the corruption demonstrated by certain MPs, which has been highlighted by the media in recent years.

Method:

For this piece of research to be both successful and impartial, a number of different sources of information must be referred to and referenced accordingly, including primary interviews and questionnaires devised and conducted by myself, as well as other studies and secondary data documented by other researchers.

To start the research project we will be looking into the background of the subject in question, as well as some facts and figures from past investigations which will hopefully demonstrate the change in public opinion. We will also look at possible causes of the change in more detail including recent events that have taken place, controversial legislation which has been passed, and any other confounding factors which may be responsible for the recessive view of government and politics today. When the different reasons that might be affecting peoples views have been outlined, I can then design and create a questionnaire of multiple choice questions and decide upon a target population to ask to complete them which will give me one type of primary data. The results will be both quantitative and discrete data, making it very easy to illustrate using charts, tables, and to convert into percentages, and hopefully providing a more definitive answer to the question posed in the introduction, as well as either supporting or opposing evidence to the hypothesis of the investigation.

When all the data has been compiled and illustrated, I shall make conclusive remarks on the evidence found, including reasoning for both sides of the arguments, and analyse the data in an unbiased and objective way, in an effort to explain both sides of the argument.

Finally I shall evaluate the research that I’ve carried out, making any recommendations and changes that might have helped the investigation to produce clearer or perhaps stronger evidence, stating whether the evidence found whilst carrying out the project supports or opposes the hypothesis, and evaluating how successful I feel the research project has been.

Development:

How do people gain knowledge about politics?

In today’s society it is easier than ever to find out any information about the on-goings of government, with internet sites, radio programs, newspapers, magazines, and now not only television programs such as ‘News at 10’, but entire channels devoted to bringing the general public up to the minute reports of what is happening in parliament. With this extensive list of media outlets to educate the people of the forces that make the decisions which affect their lives, the fact that people have lost their interest cannot be blamed on the lack of resources, and the inability to know what’s going on, as it may have been in the past when all of these facilities and services weren’t in place. The problem may not be where to get the information, but what information is being received. To the average person, the type of information that is presented, is highly significant in the decision that they will make to either listen to it, or ignore it, and the type of information which is presented by the magazines such as Politics Review, Radio shows like Today in Parliament, or the Parliament Television channel will probably only appeal to a very niche audience, presumably with a good understanding of politics in general, and the complex terms which are used frequently in such forms of media. As Government and Politics is not a subject which is taught as a mandatory subject on the national curriculum, the vast majority of UK residents don’t have the basic knowledge needed to comprehend the debates and the legislation which is put foreword and discussed in the houses of parliament.

Should Government and Politics be a mandatory subject in the Curriculum?

As a student of Government and politics of just 6-7 months, I can positively say that I have learnt invaluable information about the government, which will set me in good stead for the future, but has also given me a keen interest into the day to day running of the UK. I am personally a great supporter of the idea to teach the students of Britain how it is managed, how the English legal system has developed, and the way in which legislation is passed. In my opinion the only way that a person can become interested in any subject is to learn the basics and then to makes their own decision as to whether they will delve deeper into that subject, and invest their own time into learning the more advanced information. Take football for example, children are taught the rules of football at school, encouraged to play the game, and then left to their own devices, and football is the no. 1 national pastime and area of interest in this country. If the same idea was applied to government and politics, it would be almost inevitable that after a few years of implementation, the interest would once again rise. This is just a theory, and would probably cost millions if not billions to actually put into practice, and may not even work, which would make it very risky to even try, especially with the criticism’s of the education system which are already so evident, and trying to fit yet another subject into the already overpopulated timetable would be very impractical, and those who oppose the idea would use the argument that it has never been taught before, when interest in government was high, so why should it be introduced now as a solution? Another confounding factor would almost certainly be the politicians themselves, and if huge influxes of would-be politicians are seen to be infiltrating their quaint elitist Oxbridge bubble, then pandemonium is sure to break out.

Join now!

If the general public are not taught in schools, and do not make full use of the other sources of intellectually rich media, how do they get their general information about the government, information on the different parties, and how do they decide who to vote for? There are three types of media which bring the majority of the country their information about the government which are known as the mass media, and comprise of the Tabloids, broadsheets, and TV.

The Tabloids

The newspapers such as ‘The Sun’, ‘The Mirror’, and ‘The News of The World’, are commonly and collectively ...

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