Transcript Political Participation

Political Participation: Old Politics
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Democracy
 Classical or direct democracy means rule by the people
 Representative democracy is a modern idea and means rule
for the people by their elected representative
 Should modern representative democracies like Britain show
high levels of participation in political decision making?
Ways of Participating
Old Politics
1. Voting in national, local and European elections – in decline
2. Joining a political party – in decline
3. Joining a pressure group/supporting a pressure group – in
decline
4. Getting involved in trade union activity – in decline
Ways of Participating
New Politics
1. Direct action – demos, protests, sit ins, high profile activity
to get media attention - growing
2. New Social Movements – like pressure groups but tending
to operate outside of establish political institutions, less
formally structured, centred on moral issues and global
concerns, and ‘internet savvy’ - growing
Why is Old Politics Declining and New
Politics advancing?
Possible explanations
1. Globalisation – national governments can’t solve problems
alone
2. State is too strong – executive too dominant, parliament
too weak and pressure groups ineffective
3. Ideological merge by mainstream parties – not much to
choose between any of them
4. Changes in class structure has disrupted old class based
ideological model of British politics and undermined party
loyalty (dealignment)
Voting Behaviour
Factors
1. Class
2. Region
3. Housing tenure
4. Ethnicity
5. Age
6. Gender
7. Issues – instrumental voting
Voting Patterns
1945-70 – clear pattern of aligned voting WC Labour MC
Tory PARTY ALIGNMENT
2. The class basis of party alignment is called CLASS
ALIGNMENT
3. Since 1970 there has been a process of party and class
dealignment
4. Since the 1990’s there has been a growing problem of voter
apathy and low turn out
1.
Causes of Dealignment
Economic change and changes in the class structure
(Weberians – Lockwood, Ivor Crewe et al)
2. Growing adoption of a policy preference model of voting
based on voters evaluation of party policy rather than long
standing loyalty (Gordon Smith)
3. Decline in importance and party emphasis on traditional
ideology
4. Increased ‘Americanisation’ of UK politics – becoming
more ‘presidential’ focussed on personalities, image,
media rather than substance (SE Finer)
1.
Recent Elections
New Labour landslide victories 1997, 2001, 2005 accredited to Blair’s shifting of Labour to
the centre of the political spectrum and ‘courting’ of traditionally Conservative media
such as News International
New Labour won significant chunks of the middle class vote
2010 – Labour lost much of the middle class vote to Conservatives who styled themselves
as centre ground ‘compassionate conservatives’– strong emergence of the third party
liberal Democrats produced first ‘coalition government’ since World War 2
2015 – continuing disenchantment with traditional politics has seen the emergence as an
electoral force of UKIP – right of the Conservatives but left of the extreme right –
draws support from both Labour’s traditional voters (working class) who are attracted
by anti immigration and nationalistic rhetoric AND middle class Conservative voters –
UKIP is very Thatcherite on economy, low tax, small state, ‘tough’ on law and order
issues, anti EU.
Both Labour and Conservatives appear to be privately accepting that they can’t win an
overall majority next time and are campaigning on issues more attune to traditional
voters – Labour – dropped New Labour and have moved left. Conservatives competing
with UKIP on right wing issues. If either hit around 35% of the vote next time they will
probably head the next Coalition government
Voter Turnout Recent Elections
 1979 – 76%
 1983 – 73%
 1987 – 75%
 1992 – 78%
 1997 – 71%
 2001 – 59%
 2005 – 61%
 2010 – 76%
Gender and Voting
Gender differences in voting have all but disappeared – there
used to be a marked tendency for women to vote
Conservative – traditional family values
Why the Change?
Impact of equal opp legislation – more women now work
Changing position of women in society
Movement of Labour to the centre
Ethnicity and Voting
 4:5 Black and ethnic minority voters vote Labour
 Why?
Class
2. Policy – left wing more positive about immigration and
equality
3. Party image – Conservative very white and upper/middle
class
1.
Age and Voting
 Old more likely to vote Conservative and young Labour
although in recent elections the differences have become less
marked
 Why? Old commitment to traditional values, young more
likely to be attracted to change and new ideas
 Young far less likely to vote at all and more likely to engage
in New Politics
 Why? – Old politics seen as irrelevant to their lives, image of
politicians, young people more likely to feel strongly about
the specific moral issues NSMs tend to represent
Region and Voting
 North/Scotland/ S Wales – Labour and SNP/PC
 South – Conservative
 South West – Liberal Democrat
 N Ireland – politics based on religious divide
Why the North-South divide
1. Economic differences – CLASS
2. Decline of traditional industry
3. Local issues such as peripheral nationalism and religion
Overall Trends in Voting behaviour
 Class and other social factors still important but most
declining – is a more volatile policy preference model
emerging?
Political Parties
 Since universal suffrage 1928 modern political parties have
emerged
 Parties have to present a clear set of policies in their manifestos to
get elected
Interpretations
 Pluralist/Functionalist: The ‘cornerstone of democracy’ (Dalton
and Wattenburg) – without political parties representative
democracy would be unthinkable
 Marxists claim mainstream parties simply offer the illusion of
choice and democracy whilst all parties are essentially ‘capitalist
parties’ managing the capitalist system on behalf of the capitalists
 Elite theorists suggest parties play an important role in mobilising
the masses but real power resides within the elite
Functions of Political Parties
Fighting elections – competing for government... J
Schumpeter defines democracy as ‘the competitive struggle
for the peoples vote’
2. Policy Making – important as makes up future legislation must appeal to a broad range of opinion
3. Forming and leading Government – government in UK is
formed by largest party in Commons – party leaders
become Prime Minister
4. Representative Function – once elected a party must
represent the whole nation
1.
Decline in Party Membership
1951 Conservative 2.9 million Labour 876,000
1971 Conservative 1.3 million Labour 700,000
1981 Conservative 1.2 million Labour 277,000
1991 Conservative 1 million Labour 261,00 Lib Dem 91,000
2001 Conservative 311,000 Labour 272,000 Lib Dem 73,000
2011 Conservative 177,000, Labour 190,000 lib Dem 66,000
Pressure Groups
 Unlike parties do not seek to win elections and become
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government
Instead attempt to achieve their objectives by putting pressure on
those in government
Pressure Groups tend to focus on a narrower range of issues than
parties
Pluralists (Dahl)argue pressure groups are essential for democracy
– an important way of participating in politics
New Right (Samuel Brittan)suggests Pressure Groups are
unrepresentative and too influential – get too much attention from
government, they weaken government rather than strengthen it
Marxists assert only the wealthy business focussed pressure group
have real power and influence
Types of Pressure Group
 Protective/sectional – represent the interests of one
sector of the population e.g. The National union of Teachers
protects the interests of teachers, the BMA doctors, The CBI
– industry leaders, The British Diabetic Society – people
with that illness
 Promotional/Cause – groups that promote a particular
cause(s) e.g. Greenpeace, friends of the Earth, RSPB,
RSPCC, LIFE, Child Poverty Action group
Not always a helpful distinction – considerable overlap. Some
prefer to use the classification of insider and outsider groups
Insider/Outsider
Insider – those regularly consulted by government and listened
to. Invited to participate in decision making and policy
making
Outsider – little or no access to government, not consulted or
listened to – often resort to more direct methods of
achieving influence
Why Insider?
 The group possesses expertise on a complicated matter
 Government may need to cooperation of an influential group
to translate policy into action – e.g. Changes in health service
can only succeed if doctors and nurses support it
 Insider group is seen as reasonable and law abiding
 Insider group is seen as representative of its own community
of members
Why outsider?
 The group is seen as unreasonable or violent or extreme
 Their methods break the law – e.g. Animal Liberation Front
 The issues they represent are seen as either insignificant or
too challenging
 They lack useful expertise
 Their cooperation is not needed to enact policy
Movement
 A pressure group can go from outsider to insider and vice
versa over time
 E.g. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were seen as
outsider in the 1980s and have become insider recently as
politicians fall over themselves to appear ‘greener’ than their
opponents
 Teachers unions were insider for many years but have
recently become outsider with the radical education policy of
Michael Gove
Methods Used by Pressure Groups
 Contact with MPs – submitting evidence to parliamentary
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committees, sponsoring MPs, lobbying ministers and their
advisers
Offering cooperation and expertise in return for influence
Using the Courts – pressure groups can challenge government
decisions legally – (expensive if they lose)
Using the media – publicity campaigns, many have press offices,
publicity stunts, websites, journals etc.
Direct Action – action outside of formal political process... Can
be legal or illegal, marches, demos, sit ins, boycotts, blockades,
disruption (e.g. Hunt saboteurs). Direct action can result in
massive media attention but can also back fire
Are Pressure Groups Good or Bad for
democracy?
 Pluralists say they are essential for democracy because
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They represent a large range of opinion that otherwise would
not be heard
They represent minority interests which otherwise might be
marginalised
Offer opportunities for political participation between elections
therefore good for democracy
Provide opposition and therefore a check to the power of
government even when government has a large majority
Pressure group activity educates and informs the population on
political and social issues they may not otherwise learnt about
Are Pressure Groups Good for
democracy?
 Marxists say pressure groups operate within the framework of the
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capitalist system and therefore can never be very influential
Any victory for minority groups will be small scale and temporary
The most powerful pressure groups are ones representing
capitalist interests – radical groups are always ‘outsider’ (second
face of power)
Pressure groups leaders are not elected and therefore not
accountable for their actions – non legitimate power... The
payment of MPs to represent pressure group interests can be seen
a corrupt
The New Right criticise the power of trade union pressure groups
who they claim exert excessive power and cause economic harm
through wage demands and strikes