Democracy and Participation Flashcards
What does political process aim to do?
Resolve conflict
Why do conflicts occur and what does this mean?
- Scarcity of resources: Certain goods are in short supply and conflict arises due to the distribution of these goods
- Ideological differences: Radically different views regarding how society should be organised
- Differences in approach: Same view however differences in terms of how their aims should be achieved
- Division of labour and power: They are unhappy with their position in society and wish to change the status quo
What is democracy?
Democracy has greek origins and actually derives from the greek word Demokratia.
Demos means a union of demos or people. Kratia means power.
All in all, people power
What are the six types of democracy?
- Totalitarian Democracy
- Majoritarian Democracy
- Consensual Democracy
- Parliamentary Democracy
- Consultative/Participatory Democracy
- Pluralist
Totalitarian democracy
Given the right to vote but unable to choose between candidates and parties apart from the one in power. Top down
Top Down
No real input on the policy making process
Majoritarian Democracy
Government based on majority support of those who inhabit a given territory. Minorities can become marginalised
Consensual Democracy
Conscious effort to reach out in a more inclusive way to all groups within a given territory, not just seeking the support of majority.
Parliamentary Democracy
Executive part of government is drawn from the elected legislature and therefore accountable
Consultative Democracy
Conventional Representative democracy incorporates elements of direct democracy engages broader citizenry is the policy-making process
Pluralist Democracy
Encourages participation and allows for free and fair competition between competing interests
What does pluralist democracy entail?
- Diverse range of competing interests
- Access points- points of leverage whose pressure groups can exert influence
- No single group can exclude any other from the political process
What do some people argue that the UK is ruled by?
Elitist: Members of a particular social class, educational background or those who work in/move in a particular educational background dominate the higher levels of government, media and industry
What did New Labour’s rebranding consist of? (1994)
Party becomes more acceptable to the dominant elite and worthy of support in the face of divided and unstable cons party
What did C.Wright Miller state?
Similar criticisms surrounding the US government
Direct Democracy
Origins from Athens 500BC whereby the city’s free 40,000 men had the right to attend assembly meetings whereby certain policies and rights can be approved or declined through the use of clay stones. Stones were counted
Modern version of Athens 500BC
New England Town Meetings was held in New England States such as maine and Massachusetts
Representative Democracy
Citizens elect an individual to represent them in a legislature and the individual is required to represent the interests of the constituents until the following election but they are not delegates therefore they may take decision on our behalf
What did Edmund Burke say with regards to representative democracy?
Your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgement and he betrays you if he sacrifices it to your opinion
What are the key elements of modern
- Popular control of policy
- Existence of open and organised opposition
- Political equality
- Political freedom
- Majority rule
- Free and fair elections
- Law making by elected representatives
What was democracy seen as a part of?
Western Creed
What was political elitism?
Few acting on a behalf of many
What are the key features of liberal democracies?
- Pluralism
- Limited government
- Civil liberties/ Civil rights
- Open govt
- Independent Judiciary
- Free/Open media
Absolute Power
Ability to do something and to make something happen. Power is the ability to make things happen because others:
- Persuaded of the merits of a given course of action (Persuasive power)
- Accepted as an individual’s right to make decisions (Legitimate power)
- Forced to act in a particular as a means of laws and penalties (Coercive Power)
Authority
Right to make something happen and the right to take a particular course of action . Involves legitimate course of action
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Identified three sources of legitimate authority:
- Traditional Authority: Established traditions and customs
- Charismatic Authority: Abilities and personalities of individual leaders
- Legal Rational Authority: Granted as a result of a formal process
Political Culture
Lynton Robins stated that political culture consists of the opinions, attitudes and beliefs which shape the political behaviour
Lynton Robins
A country’s political culture consists of the whole citizenry’s collective attitudes to political system as well their role in it
What three characteristics define the british political system?
- Homogeneity
- Consensus
- Deference
Homogeneity
People within a country share key values which transcends what divides them.
What challenges homogeneity?
Development in immigration
Consensus
UK citizens accept the basic rules of the game and these include: need for tolerance, pragmatism, peaceful negotiation and compromise
What caused a decline in consensus?
Post war (1970s) whereby the end of rise of politicians such as Margaret Thatcher. Decline in conservative reflected in proliferation of single issue campaign and rise of direct action and increase in national parties
Deference
People defer to an elite that that is born to rule and they have a willingness to accept ingrained class base system.
What is power based on and why is it so important?
Ability to reward or punish and important as it allows collective decisions to be made
What did Hay describe politics as being concerned with?
Distribution, exercise and consequence of power
What are the forms of democracy that UK has adopted?
- Parliamentary Democracy
- Liberal Democracy
- Representative/ Direct
Top Down
No real input on the policy making process
Marginalised
Treat a person/group as insignificant or peripheral
What is an example of elitist?
Old Boy Network- an informal system through which men are thought to use their positions of influence to help others who went to the same school or university as they did or who have/share similar background
What type of participation occurs in established democracies?
Voluntary participation meaning that they choose whether to vote
Recall vote RLE
California 2003
Removal of State Governor and the election in his place of Arnold Schwarzenegger
What type of participation occurs in non-established democracies?
Citizens may be forced to vote or votes may be manipulated due to presence of soldiers
What did the Representation of the people act (1969) allow?
Extended the Franchise, the right to vote to citizens 18 or over
What did the Great Reform Act of 1832 allow?
Increase the number of eligible voters
How many 18 and overs were allowed to vote in 1831 and 1969?
1831: 5%
1969: 99%
Why is good turnout favourable?
It means that there is a healthy democracy and showcases vitality as well interest.
What is the average turnout for advanced countries and what countries does this include?
90% including countries such as Australia, Belgium and Italy
What are the compulsory voting laws?
UK votes are legally required to register vote and around 95% of the VAP
What is the average turnout for local council, devolved assemblies and EU parliament?
30-45%
What is the criteria to vote?
- Must from Britain
- Cannot be members of HOL
- Cannot be convicted criminal who is in prison
- Convicted of a illegal electoral practice
- Suffering from severe mental illness
Why is low turnout an issue?
Question the legitimacy and strength of electorate mandate
Labour 2005 majority
Secured a commons majority of 65% with support of only 35.2% of 61.4% of eligible voters
- 21.6% of electorate
2015 election results for Conservative
12 seat majority in parliament with 36.9%
What often masks national turnout figure?
Regional variations
In 2015, the public polls were wrong and what was one of the reasons for this?
2015, Dunbarton East had a turnout of 81.9% but Manchester Central had a turnout of 44.3%
2010 General election differential turnout
East Renfrewshire: 77.3%
Manchester central: 44.3%
Why does differential turnout occur?
- How marginal an individual or seat is as this is the basis of whether a change can occur?
- Electoral system in account
- The issue and intensity of campaign
- Media attention it receives
In 2001, what could have been the reason for 59.4%?
Labour was bound to win and this could have caused a lacklustre in campaigning as well as lack of choice in terms of parties
Non-electoral participation
Inclusive definition of political participation would include a wide range of activities
What are the non-electoral participation?
- Membership of political party
- Wearing a party membership @ election or putting up campaign posters
- Seeking election to the Westminster parliament, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Ireland and bodies
- Membership of a pressure group means that more active membership would include being a trade union representative
- Attending a meeting, distributing leaflets, canvassing on the doorstep, writing to elected representatives
- Staging or joining in a sit down protest
- Political violence
What did Noreena Hertz state in the independent about turnout after low levels of turnout in 2001?
Not about apathy other expressions are on the rise
Changes in participation states for voting, boycotting and contact media?
1984
- Vote: 83%
- Boycotting: 4%
- Contacted the media: 4%
2000
- Vote: 72%
- Boycotting: 31%
- Contacted media: 9%
How many members on 38 degrees and what is it?
2.5 million people in the UK and it is a UK campaigning organisation which uses the web to allow members to discuss and vote on what issue to campaign about
What falls below the ideal in established democracy?
Popular participation as it is confined to a small minority?
What have surveys shown which impacts 7-the levels of turnout?
Lack of knowledge as people cannot name their MPS, MEPS and local councillors
What did Crewes survey conclude in 1996 for Britain and the US?
- 80% of the British pupils engaged in little or no discussion of public affairs
What did Milbrath and Goel conclude in 1977 about voting behaviour?
That there are trends when it comes to voting:
- Gladiators: relatively small % of activists who are keen participants
- Spectators: Large majority of who observe the contest but limit their participation
- Apathetics: non-participants who not even watch the contest and are indifferent to their outcome
What was the Parry et. al (1992) survey about?
Investigation into why there was such a low level of turnout using more than 1,5000 respondents with 23 different political action
What were Parry’s findings?
- 1/4 involved in any political activity
- 3/4 interviewed were active to some extent and fewer voted in 2001 and 2005
- 23.2% involved in a variety of political activities beyond voting
- 51% limited involvement to voting
- 25.82% were almost inactive
What did Parry et al conclude about low levels of turnout?
That significant element of the population is formed under class and uniformed about or alienated from the political process
- There may be scepticism about politicians and what they promise to deliver so they feel marginalised against the rest of society
What does WIll Hutton’s 40:30:30 society argue about?
40%: of the society to have secure employment and are comfortable/well off
30%: insecure employment (newly insecure/ reduced employment opportunities)
30%: Economically and socially marginalised, jobless or woking for poor wages and barely able to subsist
What did Pulzer state in 1967?
Overwhelming evidence that women are more conservatively inclined than men
Class is the basis of British politics, all else is embellishnment and detai.l
Why did Pulzer come to that conclusion in 1967?
Traditional position of women in the home made them more in tune with conservative party’s emphasis on family and law and order whereas unionised men were more likely to vote with class aprty
Name the class voting
A— Higher, professional, managerial and administration
B— Intermediate, professional and managerial administrative
C1—-Supervisory, clerical and other non-manual
C2—Skilled manual
D—- Semi-skilled, unskilled manual
E—- Residual, casual workers, reliant on state benefits
What has been the stereotyped view when it comes to voting and class?
Professional, business people with better education and higher income, more likely to vote
What did Pulzer say in 1960s?
Class is the basis of British politics and all else is embellishment and detail
When was there the highest levels of partisan alignment?
1950s and 1960s
Why did the relationship between social class and voting decline?
Societal changes were taking place:
- Decline in traditional and heavy manufacturing industries
- Rise of service sector
- Housing act
Rise of service sector
1995-1996: Employment in service sector increased from 36% to 76% and manufacturing fell from 43% to 18%
1996: 0.9% worked in heavy industry as well as nationalised industries
1979-1990: Self-employed people increased and old industries were male dominated, labour intensive and unionised.
What did Ivor Crewe talk about in terms of participation?
Decline of the old working class and new working class. Privatisation process and the introduction of competition to these areas made people less in tune with social engineering favoured by the labour and more individualistic
Housing Act 1980
Allowed the long term council house owners the right to buy their house for a discounted price which was 60-70% off of market value. Conservatives gained more support from working class.
What has occurred heavily in terms of voting?
Class dealignment
1964: 42%
1997: 22%
2017 opinion poll (YouGov) : Conservatives hold 22% lead amongst middle class and 17% lead of working class
Who did Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair appeal to during their premiership?
Margaret Thatcher- C2 voters that were working class Tony Blair- AB voters
If long term factors do not remain stable what occurs?
Greater volatility and swings
Conservatives and Class voting
Their lead share in AB voters fell by 9% as before 1992, it was 32%. ABs and C1s are the most significant element in conservative support
New labour and class voting
They had 28% of the AB vote
Summarise the main points between class and the 2005 GE
- South east more conservative
- Labour had a clear clear lead over their rivals in Greater London, NE, NW, Scotland and Wales
- Labour had narrower leads in West Midlands and East midlands
- Labour was dominant in England, Scotland and Wales whilst conservatives were dominant in the South
- Support for liberal democrats evenly spread however weak in the midlands and wales
Summarise the voting pattern in 2015 GE (Ipsos Mori)
- Class
- Labour had a clear lead amongst those of class DE
- Liberal Democrats only getting above 10% of AB votes
- Both labour and liberal democrats increased in BME voters, may be due to UKIP as 14% were from a white vote
Voting patterns in 2015 GE (Ipsos Mori)
- Labour’s vote share for those above 65+ (highest turnout group) fell to just 1:4
- Conservatives most successful in 65+ group as they gained a 5.5% swing
- Liberal Democrats fell the most when it came to under 35s (due to tuition fees maybe?)
- UKIP stable and third highest in most categories except for social classes AB, BME voters
- Younger women swing towards labour and older women returned to the old swing of conservatives
- No change in turnout, younger less likely to vote than the “older” generation
What is the North-South divide?
Primary industry in the North included mining and manufacturing such textiles were declining but services were booming
- Unemployment in North 10.8% compared to 8.6% everywhere else
- Labour had strong support in North, Scotland and Wales whereby Conservative had the strongest support in Southeast
Comparison of 1997 and 21st century North South divide
1997
- Labour party achieved 51.8% of votes (46 seats) in North, Conservatives 27.9% (7 seats)
- Conservative in the southeast secured 41.4% of the vote (73 seats) and Labour 32% (36 seats)
21st century
- Labour won 41/59 scottish seats in GE with 42% popular vote across Scotland. Conservatives only secured 16.7% of Scottish votes winning one seat
Compare the Ethnic minority population for 1996, 2001 and 2011 and what does this affect?
1996: 3.3M (6%)
2001: 9.1M
2011: Rise of 7.47% according to the UK census
Ethnic minorities are often concentrated in urban areas and this will affect constituency contests
What did Bill Coxall and Lynton Robbins estimate in early 1990s?
Around 49 seats where the margin of victory smaller than the number of ethnic minority voters in their constituency
What impacted the Labour votes in 2005 and even Tony Blair admitted that the loss in support was due to this?
Military intervention in Iraq (2003)
Tony Blair wanted to free the Iraq people from the evil of Saddam Hussein but instead the people became victims of sectarian crisis.
- 1M people marched to not go intervene with military in Iraq but Tony Blair ignored it (largest march)
Statistics to prove loss of support from ethnic minorities for Tony Blair
Birmingham, Spearbrook and Small Heath with 48% muslim population lost 21.4%
Bethnal Green and Bow which has 39.2% muslim population lost 10.1%
What is the stereotypical view of age and voting?
Older voters much more likely to vote conservatives whereas younger voters more likely to vote labour
Did Labour’s support for military intervention in Iraq impact voting with regards to ages?
Decrease by 7% among 18-24 y/o
Decrease by 8% among 25-34 y/o
Decrease by 10% among 35-44
Why has it been stereotypically viewed that older people vote for conservative?
- Traditional view
- Family life
- Less radical
Tactical Voting
Elector does not vote for their favourite candidate but for another candidate who has a better chance of winning. Usually done to prevent the election of a candidate representing the most disliked party.
What are typical characteristics of By-elections?
Large swings, low turnouts, high levels of tactical voting as well as protest voting
What are factors of great relevance in by-elections?
- Wider choice of candidate
- Small unusual party representative
- Wider choice of candidates
- Lower turnout
- More emphasis on personality
- more emphasis on performance
- More tactical voting
Primacy model (Voting behaviour)
Long term factors such as a class are more important factors in deciding an election. Supporters of this see stability in electoral behaviour, no volatility
Recency model
Voting patterns are more volatile and embourgeoisement of class has lead to partisan dealignment.
Who researches into voting behaviour and how people vote?
Psephologist
What are the four main theories?
- Party Identification Theory
- Sociological Theory
- Rational Choice Theory
- Dominant Ideology Theory
Party Identification Theory
Individuals would identify with a political party and stick with it. Emphasis on political socialisation which explained how people learned their political attitudes and behaviours as part of growing up. Children will grow up and discover what their parents like and end up developing loyalties.
Party Identification Theory statistics
1950s: Over 90% of the electorate voted for either Labour or Conservative
2010: Fallen to 65.1%
Between 1964-2001: dropped from 45% to 13%
Clarke et Al findings about party identification
The number of individuals who claim to have strong identification with labour and conservative has fallen:
1964: 45%
1979: 21%
2001: 13%
Sociological Theory
Social characteristics influence participation in politics. Social class can be seen as an important factor, especially in Britain.
Example of class dealignment
Middle Class- Conservative
Working class- Strong pro-labour
Rational Choice Theory
1980- the emphasis shifted from psyehological to sociological approaches and placed on the role of the individual in making a rational judgement acting in a calculated and deliberate manner.
Dominant ideology theory
Media are seen as reflecting a dominant prevailing ideology view is harsh about welfare claimant or rights or minorities, society more likely to conform to current thinking
Long term determinants of voting behaviour
- Party identification and loyalty: age, gender and ethnicity
- Social class
Beforehand what was the stereotyped idea about participation in politics?
Privileged in order to participate in politics and who was excluded beforehand:
- Women
- Male slaves
- Non-Athenians
List reasons as to why participation matters
- hold ministers to account and this involves control of democracy, not enough to just vote
- Risk of increasing alienation and political exclusion of some social groups
- Participation moderates the majority and ensures political extremism does not occur
as it allows participation before anything extreme occurs - It counters apathy, alienation and ignorance
- “new form of participation” are sporadic and focuses on single issues which quickly fade out of existence, it’s high profile for a while and fades out
What did Sherry Ainstein define participation as?
redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens, presently excluded from the political and economic processes to be deliberately included in the future
List the reasons as to why participation doesn’t matter
- Easy to over emphasise arguments concerning participation. The reason is that although traditional forms declining, we live in a post-material age
- Some non-political groups can perform very political acts aka: Local Ramblers Association
- Politics is not a key aspect in people’s lives, they wish to take advantage of other things that are on offer and use leisure time to pursue their dreams/hobbies
- People only participate at times of crisis as showcased by Nazi germany. It could show that participation is not a sign of apathy but rather contest
- Cannot force people to participate
Local Ramblers Association
Carters for mainly the elderly and they deliberately walk on footpath that farmers are keen to disguise or roam the countryside to establish rights or access
Why should people at least turnout?
- People have died for the right to vote
Afghanistan, Iraq and South Africa voting is highly values and 19th century working class British struggled to get voting rights and suffragettes - way to express view
- major symbol of citizenship in a democracy
Name the influences upon British voters
- State of economy
- Impact of party issues and images
- Impact of party leaders
State of economy (Valence Issue)
Stable economy is very influential in terms of whether a party is elected. Furthermore, govt needs to ensure that the economy is doing well in order to govern again
What did David Sanders say about the state of economy in relation to voting behaviour?
1) . Voters see the success of the economy in terms of the level of mortgage interest and inflation
2) . People likely to reelect a government that makes them feel about about their economic state. This theory does not make sense in terms of 1997 elections
Impact of party issues and images
Particular issues in the general election will cause much more controversy and interest such as unemployment.
What did David Denver say in 2003 about issues?
Issues becoming more important at election time. Electorate dealigned and influenced by the media therefore, they will base it on current thinking, issues, ideologies, leaders of the government (judgemental voting)
Impact of party leaders
Digital native/ we live in a media age meaning people are more interested in the personalities of those who inspire to lead them
Example of party leaders and their impact
Labour’s Michael Foot seemed aloof, eccentric and intellectual against Margaret Thatcher
Neil Kinnock could not get the voters to warm up to him
Margaret Thatcher people warmed up to her incredible leadership skills
Tony Blair was young, dynamic and charismatic
“one of the most skillful political communicators of our time”
What is the time period which the election campaign must last for?
Three weeks and sometimes it lasts for four or more weeks.
1997: lasted 44 days
Why did the election campaign not have much of an impact before?
Party allegiance was very strong and only floating voters were impacted
What did David denver conclude in 2003?
The 1992 election campaign
- 63% of votes had made up their mind
- 21% made up in the last week
- 6% on the last day
What was the reasoning behind the 2001 low turnout at the general election?
Less interest than any other election beforehand:
- little enthusiasm amongst voters in the media
- ITV poll: 70% expressed little or no interest
What is the purpose of carrying out the national campaign on television?
- Reinforce the viewers who are already committed to a party
- Recruit the genuinely undecided
- Convert waverers in other parties
What happened in the 2005 election campaign?
Conservatives and Labour did not have the early morning press conferences and they preferred to meet media interviewers however Liberal Democrats continued and did the same routine.
Press Conference
They are questions from political editors |a
Target Voters
They targeted constituencies that they were eager to win or keen to not lose in. Target a specific constituency means that they aim to persuade the abstainers to vote for them and they wish to convert the voters.
- Issue with this is that there is 45M in the UK however they only concentrate on a few areas
What did Butler and Kavangh conclude inn 2005?
There are 7.4 million voters in the target seat but this is only concentrated in certain areas
When did opinion polls first begin and when has it been carried out since?
1938 and has been carried out since 1950s
What are the two sampling methods for pollsters?
Random sampling (based on Electoral register)
Quota sampling (based on face-face interview)
What now occurs which makes it harder to predict voting behaviour and what has the polling station predicted?
Volatility which exists makes it harder to predict voting behaviour and opinion polls have predicted a hung parliament
Do polls matter?
They lost reliability therefore arguably no. However,it is useful to parties in terms of their campaigning as they can identify which topics are of a concern.
On average what percentage of people over 15 read a newspaper?
60%
On average, how many homes have home tv and internet access?
Home tv- 97% +
Internet access- 50%
What are the BBC/ITV meant to be?
Remain impartial but Labour and Conservatives have claimed that there has been bias against them and liberal democrats have complained that they are neglected
In the 1980s and 1990s which newspapers were against labour and Neil Kinnoick?
- Daily Mail
- Daily Express
- Daily Telegraph
- The Sun
Why did the newspapers support labour after 1997 and onwards?
Tony Blair’s leadership changed this
Lazarsfeld (US)
Minimum Effect Theory
rather than change the popular opinion, media actually reinforces it.Voters already has a preconception and media just acts as a barrier.
Birch
People expose themselves mainly to communications which they are predisposed to agree and tend to remember the content only of those items in which they are in agreement
What did 1970s GUMG stress the importance of?
Importance of agenda-setting by television and newspaper. Media influences the electorate by determining what is seen and heard. GUMG argued that this bias resulted from the background and outlook of those who worked as journalists
Independent Effects Theory
We cannot escape the views and news as we are exposed to it a lot and it influences us. The passive spectator takes little notice of what they see
Is the effect of media viewable short term?
No it has a cumulative effect over time however difficult to tell as there has been no research long term
What impacts the level of turnout?
The type of elections it is
What impacts the local council elections?
People less likely to vote and they vote on a national basis rather than local (30%)
What are devolved elections and what are the popular parties?
Scottish parliament more powerful than wales
- SNP
- Plaid Cymru
Scotland vs Wales
1999
2003
2007
1999 58% vs. 46% 2003 49% vs. 38% 2007 51.8% vs. 43.7%
What type of parties do well in Scottish parliament?
Nationalists
What do electorates view the European elections as?
They do not view it in isolation but as an opportunity to cast a vote on the permanence of national parties or to show antiapathy to European Union
Turnout in 1999 and 2004
1999: Less than 24% turnout
2004: 39%
