Is there a participation crisis in the UK?

Cal1999

Hi all,

I would be grateful if you could add some points to this question. I'm seeking about 6 - 8 well established points. You may use evidence from 1945 - present.

This is a practice question for AS level Government and Politics.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you, and kind regards.

Reply 1

username2419947

General Electoral turnout is seen as the most important health indicator of a modern democracy. For that reason, I would, personally, frame the essay to acknowledge that, yes participation is declining as can be seen by electoral turnouts, however our democracy is evolving and the electorate is still engaging with politics through different avenues.

Electoral Turnout:
General Election: in 1992 77.7% voted; but by 2001 this had gone down to 59.4%.By 2005 had only just risen to 61.3%. In 2015 it rose again to 66.1% but this is still far removed from what it had been in 1992.

European Election:
UK turnout is 35% while the EU average is 42%.

Local Elections:
In 2012: 41 Wards had less than 20% of turnout.

London Mayor:
45% Electoral turnout for 2016.

Party Membership
Party Membership is declining. In 1980 4.12% of the public were members of political parties; today it has fallen to just above 1%. All of this is strong evidence that UK democracy is facing some form of a problem.Here is an example essay that looks at all these issues in a bit more detail with the other side of the argument - http://www.governmentandpolitics.co.uk/to-what-extent-is-uk-democracy-suffering-from-a-participatory-crisis/

Reply 2

megaandavies

Original post by Cal1999

YES:
-The UK has witnessed a decline in voter turnout. The 1997 GE saw a 71.4% turnout, compared to the next GE in 2001 at 59.4%. Recent referendums have shown a decline too- just 42.2% for the AV referendum.
-Party membership is falling too. In the 80's, 4.12% of the electorate were a registered member of a party, compared to just 0.95% in 2008.

NO:
-Pressure group membership is on the rise- the National Trust for example has 4.5million members.
-Many people are actively involved online (using e-petitions as an example)

These are the only points I can think of at the moment, as the politics course I studies from 1979 onwards. Hope they helped though !!

Reply 3

Cal1999

Original post by megaandavies

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you!

Reply 4

Cal1999

Thank you all for such great answers!

Does anybody have:

Local election turnout 2016
Examples of countries with a delegate system of representation
What is bad about split ticket voting?
Labour and Tory membership - 2016

Reply 5

paradiddlepad

YES:
Lower election turnouts (e.g. average General Election turnout is at 60-65%, and 2015 GE was approx. 66%, and GE turnout has declined since 1997- where it was 71.4%)
Lower referenda turnouts (e.g. 2011 AV referendum was 42.2%)
Decrease in party membership since the 1980s (e.g. Conservative party has gone from 1.3 million in membership, to about 150,000 in recent years).
Disillusionment with party politics
Decrease in identification with political parties (e.g. tactical voting and/or voting for policies, as opposed to life-long party loyalty)

NO:
Increase in the number of pressure groups and their membership
Increase in political social media campaigning
Increase in direct action

Reply 6

the bear

if young folk could vote on their mobility telephones then the turnout rate would soar.

:shakecane:

Reply 7

caffeineshot

but the proplem with digital voting is that it can be easily hacked and tampered with, and then would everyone just have to vote online? as some people dont have access to any computers or phones, and especially the older generations, many do not know how to use these devices, if thousands of people are all voting at the same time the website could crash, ect.