UNIT 1 Is there a participation crisis? Flashcards
Participation crisis?
voter turnout in general elections
YES: 1997, no election has reached 70% voter turnout despite the recent elections being so exciting. Between 1918 and 1997, every election reached over 70% turnout.
NO: 2017 election had a rising turnout of 68%. 64% of young people aged 18-24 registered to vote in 2017, which was the highest since 1992.
Participation crisis?
other elections vs. referendums
YES: turnout - 2021 p+cc elections saw 33% turnout
NO: not reflected in referendums: Scottish independence referendum in 2014 saw a turnout of 84% - EU referendum had the highest turnout 2016 since the 90s (72.2%).
Participation crisis?
party membership
YES: Cons membership dropped significantly, and until the Corbyn resurgence, Labour was in a similar position. UKIP has dropped since 2016 referendum. Only 1% of the UK is part of a political party.
NO: Smaller parties are growing, Green Party had 50,000 members in 2020. 100,000 people registered support for the Brexit Party.
Participation crisis?
active participation and pressure group membership
YES: decline in corporation Trade Union membership - 13.2 million members in 1972, to under 6 million today. People are less likely to assert their political rights in the workplace today.
NO: 4/10 UK adults are members of at least one pressure group. Insulate Britain’s demographic!!!!
What is differential turnout?
Why are average turnout figures misleading?
Varying levels of turnout across the country.
They are misleading because they show a national average which simplifies the issues with out electoral participation in the UK.
Evidence proving partisan dealignment
Party membership levels have been declining since 1946, there were nearly 3,000,000 Cons party members in 1951 - in 2021, there was less than 200,000.
Hapathy and Apathy?
apathy - people are not voting because they are not interested in politics.
hapathy? people are not motivated to vote because they are content with their lives.
Positive examples of e-democracy!!!
E-Petitions launched in 2011, and has been incredibly popular since.
Between 2011, and 2015, there were 37 E Petitions that reached over 100,000 signatures, 31 were debated in the Commons.
Piers Morgan petition Feb 2021 - 80,000 signed to kick him off GMB
2019 Audit of Political Engagement
32% said they did not want to be involved in local decision making.
47% said they felt they had no influence over national decision making.
