But in contrast to voting, non-electoral participation is the particular preserve of one section of society – the better educated who are evidently more likely to feel they have the skills and resources required to engage in these more demanding forms of political activity. In 2008, a paper was published called the ‘Audit of Political Engagement’ and it stated that citizens that where educated and are professionals at their profession are twice as likely as those from unskilled groups to vote, donate to a party campaign and they are four times more likely to have engaged in three or more political activates in the previous year. Few of those without any qualifications report having done anything other than signing a petition, while almost two-thirds have not done anything at all. In contrast, only one in four graduates have never undertaken any non-electoral activity. This clearly shows that the UK’s democracy is suffering massively, as only a small portion of the citizen’s feel that they can vote and participate in politics.
The media have played a huge part in the decline of participation in the UK’s political system. The media are looking to sell as many stories they possibly can and one way is to focus on the negatives of the political parties and politicians involved with those parties. They look to exploit scandals and focus on the pessimistic and very politically unrelated stories in order to sell newspapers and attract viewers. It is clear that these stories should be reported but in the way they are and how they are advertised and exploited completely overshadows the real politically activity that is so important. The expenses scandal was a clear showing with a select group of MPs that had made some fiddled with their expenses and was exposed by the Telegraph. I agree that was the correct thing to do but what came next has created a legacy that years on is still lingering. The media continued the stories for weeks and months just clinging to stories and shaming the whole political system. This took away the limelight of the real politics and the problems that were most important and the readers had very little information on the political stories. The people do not know what is going on so therefore cannot be well informed enough to get involved in the politics that is happening. This has set back the UK’s democracy due to this decline in participation bought on by the medias pessimistic viewing and poor efforts of getting across important information to the public.
However, other forms of participation are on the increase. The earlier discussion showed election-related and party-related forms of political participation have been declining. However, it is important to state that this is not true of all types of participation. Voting has definitely decreased in importance, but boycotting or buying goods for ethical and political reasons have grown rather dramatically. Young people, in particular, are attracted to this type of participation, many buying products such as ‘fair trade’ coffee and boycott the ‘Deepwater Horizon oil spill’ in 2011. Other indicators of political activity, such as attending a political demonstration, the potential for protest has definitely grown in importance. In 1979, 20% of people who took part in a ‘British Election Study’ stated that they would be willing to go on a protest demonstration; by 2000 the number had risen to 33%. In 2003, the campaign against Iraq war saw over 1million people demonstrating on the streets of London. Such a massive operation was made easier by the Internet, which allows people to mobilise and organise protests much faster than they could a generation ago. In one sense, a willingness to join a protest demonstration is an indicator of ‘civic health rather than civic decline’. Also it may be argued that people demonstrate when they find the normal method weak or infective. The democracy must be seen as weak when people have to take to the streets to show their distaste at political ideology. This highlights that though orthodox methods of participation may be declining, people, in this democracy can still go out and express their views and have the ‘freedom of speech’.
In conclusion, Political participation is important, not simply because it is the beating heart of a healthy democracy, but because it is directly related to the effectiveness of government. Low levels of participation seem to be associated with ineffective governments. Though some forms of participation in Britain are increasing, others are declining. The problem, however, is that the forms which are declining, like electoral voting and party activism, are central to democracy and the effectiveness of government. The forms that are increasing, such as consumer participation, are not central, although important and therefore do not improve the situation. In this sense, there is a crisis of democracy and participation in Britain today.
by
wenderz (student)
