Politicians in Britain appear to have a relationship with British citizens, which is clouded with antipathy and distrust. It is difficult to explain why this is happening. Disputes about the expenses and the salaries of MPs, and about the funding of parties reflect and amplify, rather than create, a climate of anti-politics, a sense that politics is not working. Voter turnout, which is expected to go up in the 2009-2010 election, is a symptom, not a cause. Incapability and a lack of skills may still be an issue for some citizens, but given that the population is more highly educated than ever, this cannot be the obstacle for most. We have free media, free speech and freedom of association so the barriers to political engagement cannot reflect fear of intimidation. And yet there is a problem: a wide malaise characterized by a deep disenchantment with the workings of democratic politics.
Dimensions
Political elites ring their hands and propose reforms to address the climate of anti-politics and, at the same time, they cannot resist attempting to exploit it to acquire electoral advantage and to undermine opponents. All the major parties have embraced significant elements of an anti-politics position. They attack each other about issues concerning sleaze, funding and trust, and make constant claims about the deceitfulness of their opponents. Labor, when in government, claims the virtue of taking politics out of decision making. The Tories, the natural party of government in the twentieth century, presents itself as an anti-politics party, a populist party that embraces society, community and individuals before politics and the state. The Liberals have maneuvered themselves into the position of the permanent opposition party. The nationalist parties of Scotland and Wales have developed similar political rhetoric of opposition. Politicians compete with one another to publicly confirm that they (or at least their opponents) cannot be trusted and must be bound, confined and constrained to act in the public interest.
Citizens embrace the message of anti-politics. It is the spirit of the age. No dinner table conversation, pub chat or Internet blog would be complete without a ritual and repeated rubbishing of politicians and politics. Yet interest in politics remains high. We have interests and values and we want to promote them in an increasingly inter-dependent world. But formal politics is viewed with distrust and there are signs of a rise of informal or new practices. Boycotting goods, protests and Internet campaigns are where politics is at. Engagement in this activity as well as in more formal politics, however, is often sporadic and shallow.
Causes
Four explanations of the rise of anti-politics in Britain are commonly offered.
The first is the failure of politicians: they offer us no real choice, but rant about the failings of their opponents. Through the decline of mass membership parties, they have lost their capacity for mobilization. The second explanation lays the blame at the door of the citizens who are individualistic and naïve in their approach to politics. A third argues that we are suffering from a chronic communication failure: the mass media with its ingrained cynicism, short attention span and obsession with spin and trivia, which have made positive exchanges between politicians and citizens impossible. Finally, some argue that globalization and global economic forces indicate that national democracies have ceded power to unelected elites and, as a result, citizens are effectively excluded from political engagement.
Solutions
Three options will be explored. Some seem to think that the answer lies in an education in civics. Many think that the answer lies in reforming politics by making it less confrontational, cleaner and more meaningful. For others the key issue is to diffuse power and to widely expand opportunities to allow for greater participation in the decision making process in our society.