Informing and engaging citizens
UKIP’s 2013: a staging post, rather than a watershed
Richard Hayton argues that UKIP’s strong showing in recent elections is just one facet of a broader trend in British politics, the continuing rise of smaller parties in the UK. Moreover, the party is clearly not a passing phase for voters, having grown in support steadily over many years. It is important to recognize that they will […]
Designing a new UK-EU relationship and how it could be achieved
The Eurozone crisis has brought the EU’s division into two types of membership into relief, with the euro member states moving closer towards deeper fiscal and economic union, and the others, such as the UK, who remain in the single market with no wish to join the Eurozone, at risk of becoming ‘second class’ states. Damian […]
Profumo 50 years on: The old establishment’s collapse has not increased participation
Wyn Grant looks back at the Profumo affair and suggests that it represented the beginning of the end for the old ‘establishment’. In the place of ‘club government’, a more rule bound regulatory state was created. However this transformation has been arguably incomplete, with politicians still being drawn from a narrow range of occupations and not being representative of […]
There should be greater public involvement in deciding what is a legitimate ‘nudge’
The coalition government has been at the forefront of using insights from behavioural research to craft more effective policies, ‘nudging’ citizens in other words. Rikki Dean argues that ‘nudges’, especially those that rely on deception or concealment, should be subject to a ‘participatory principle’. Only citizens themselves can legitimately rule on what is in their own interest, and […]
Book Review: On Voter Competence
A half century of research shows that most citizens are shockingly uninformed about public affairs, liberal-conservative ideologies, and the issues of the day. This has led most scholars to condemn typical voters and to conclude that policy voting lies beyond their reach. On Voter Competence breaks sharply from this view, with author Paul Goren providing analysis of opinion data from […]
Children with politically engaged parents are more likely to deviate from their parents’ political views in adulthood
How do the political attitudes of parents influence those of their children? As Elias Dinas notes, a common assumption is that children from more politically engaged families are more likely to retain their parents’ political views. Taking issue with this perspective, he finds evidence that while young people from politicised homes may be more likely to acquire […]
We need more trust in political leaders and more community engagement alongside a measured dose of healthy scepticism
Matthew Flinders suggests that the idea that we should not be too trusting of leaders is simplistic. He argues that, though we should not set people or institutions up to the heights where they cannot do anything but fail, it would be quite wrong to suggest that individuals cannot make a positive difference, or to deny that some politicians […]
The decline in party membership across Europe means that political parties need to reconsider how they engage with the electorate
Is party membership still an important part of European political systems? Ingrid van Biezen outlines results from a study, co-authored with Peter Mair and Thomas Poguntke, of party membership rates in 27 European democracies. She notes that party membership levels vary significantly between European countries, with Austria and Cyprus containing the highest levels as a percentage of […]
Whatever happened to reforming the political system?
In May 2009, as leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg announced his 100 day action plan ‘to save British democracy’, ‘take back power’ and ‘change politics for good’. Clegg’s proposals were for an urgent and far-reaching set of political reforms, including fixed-term Parliaments, a mechanism for voters to be able to recall MPs, a referendum on […]
Select committee report shows way forward on voter registration
The Political and Constitutional Reform Select Committee’s 10threport of session, Individual Electoral Registration and Electoral Administration, has generated widespread media coverage. It is safe to say that a select committee report on electoral registration has never been awaited, and greeted, with such interest. Stuart Wilks-Heeg looks at the reasons why. The reason for the interest, of course, has […]
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