POLITICAL DISENGAGEMENT - Essay Example

POLITICAL DISENGAGEMENT College Many countries in the world have experienced a decline in conventional forms of participation in politics. The levels of apathy in politics, boycotts of democratic processes and growing distrust along with lack of confidence among citizens on political institutions reflect the mindset of citizens on political situation. This disengagement is a threat to perceived governance legitimacy. This kind of political extrication poses as a factor of dismay for political leaders since it leads to low turnout by voters during elections. Active citizenship is promoted and understood by vitally examining the roles of citizens and how they perceive it, how the sense of belonging is developed and ownership in their social communities, and how this role is subjectively experienced. It is essentially important to investigate the many diverse groups, especially marginalized crowds that risk being politically disengaged due to gender, age or ethnic belonging. This of course is if we want to develop policies that are effective and sanctions that are levelheaded. In order to achieve democracy, a reconfiguration of participation, diversity, pluralism and diversity are essential. Citizenship could also be expanded by analyzing political participation among relegated groups (Rollenhagen, 1982). This will substantially contribute to policy and scholarly debates vis-a -vis deficit in democracy. Voter turnout has been a major problem in the United Kingdom. It has been on a decline while public disengagement from political processes in general has been influenced largely by a stretch of aspects. Factors as First-Past-The-Post can be linked to this disengagement. Parliaments increasingly fail to reflect on voting patterns of the people, hence many voters are literally left disenfranchised. Their electorate choices remain unrepresented or grossly under represented (Pollard et al 2009). Intangible factors that influence the civilian minds are at times immeasurable. An example is, the large number of people in the United Kingdom that do not comprehend the functionality of the country’s political system, thus it becomes difficult for an average citizen to appreciate what the parliament does or what the elected members engage in. An individual may not be obliged to engage with an institution that he or she does not recognize or understand in value and functionality or those of the people who work or seek to work there. There is a growing mistrust on the politicians by the public. Survey carried out in both the United Kingdom and Canada that have repeatedly shown that that politicians are among the less trusted professionals if not the least. In 2009, a survey conducted in the United Kingdom showed that only 1% of the surveyed respondents trust politicians. Three years earlier, in 2006, a similar survey showed that only 1.6% of the whole population trusted them. The data reflects a declining affiliation. Mistrust in politicians, political systems and government translate from topical turbulences. Both Canada and U.K have experienced their share of scandals in recent times. However the timing of all these does not seem to reflect reason for the UK poll results. An example is the 2009 crisis which is the year an "expenses scandal" hit the U.K. The details of Member of Parliament’s largesse with the expense claims was made public when in May 2009 and the Telegraph got hold of the information. We cannot however, claim that lack of trust in politicians is enough reason for growing disengagement from politics. According to Dobbins Murray when he was writing in The Tyee, corporate globalization and the Trilateral Commission formation in the 70s, led to lowered expectations of government and also encouraged consumerism. The United States has been model for democracy of consumption where citizens have largely been turned into consumers. In that they have political apathy, are totally disconnected, easily misinformed and uninformed. The recent members of parliaments expenses scandal in the U.K has made many people view the politicians as greedy, corrupt and inept. Members from all political parties were involved; this is what many people think which is not entirely true. The fact is that a majority (75%) of them claimed proportionate and irreproachable expenses (Baston et al 2004). The United Kingdom just like the United States has First-Past-The-Post electoral system, which states that the party with the most number of members in the House of Commons shall form government. This is a good system in that; it ensures stability and certainty in governance. However a party that had a less of votes actually cast could control government. It further encourages a system where the two main parties that have majority members are government parties while the remaining ones just meets the numbers. This means that it will be very difficult for the independent candidates to make it to parliament, since their communities instead find meaning in shopping malls. Studies have shown that the coalition has led to the turning off politics of voters in droves. This disillusionment has considerably affected all these parties, with less than half of the voters still saying they would be voting in a General Election. This is the lowest number since the history of voting. More than a fifth (22%)of the people who voted for Liberal Democrats a few years ago are interested in politics no more. However, 8%of conservative voters also claim that they are into politics anymore.16% claim they are sure they will not vote if the elections were to be conducted tomorrow in the near future. These are the findings of the Hansard Society’s latest report. They have been doing an audit of the political engagement annually since 2004. MP debates in Westminster are viewed as increasingly irrelevant to voters concerns. Only half of the pubic (49%) say that issues debated and decided in Parliament have relevance to their own lives. Less than four in ten (38%) believe that the government is held to account by Parliament. Members of parliament in Westminster are viewed as being increasingly irrelevant when it comes to voters concerns(Lewis et al 2008). The study shows that voters have become highly skeptical of engagement in community. Only two fifths which represent 38% of people show interest in decision making that happens at the local level. This is bad news for the prime ministers big society program. There has also been a decrease in the number of those voters who sign petitions to the lowest ever recorded levels that is 27%. The Government has made claims that it has two main objectives directed towards bringing forward its White Paper on registration of individual voter; this is to improve the completeness of the current electoral register and also to prevent fraud. These are laudable goals that Labor is committed to pursuing. The current system is however open to abuse and it is right that we, the concerned, address the prevailing shortcomings (Ehalu et al 1969). However the governments agenda in doing this is slowly coming into the public limelight. The individual voter registration white paper has some two proposals that are disturbing in that they will further increase disengagement in politics thus disfranchising people. The proposal seeks to offer the voters an opt-out option from the electoral register. This causes people to not to be in the electoral register. This proposal will obviously lead to further reduction of the register completely and not an increase, as the government says its objective is (Matthew, 2004). The chair of the electoral commission, Jenny Watson, warned that he proposal, logically could lead to a reduction in the completeness to as low as 60% from the current 60%, stating also that they will object it (Manwell, 2009). Secondly, the White Paper plans for the 2014 electoral canvass which is the process of alerting people to their absence from the electoral register- lack clarity and seems to suggest that its scope should and will be limited to mailings. This in turn would remove the obligation on Electoral Registration Officials to coordinate follow up visits to properties where they get no response (Mattson,2009). During this transition period of moving to the IVR system, the 2014 electoral canvass, as proposed, may fail to reach: During this transitional time during the movement from the IVR system, the electoral canvass of 2014 may not reach: a) Those who attain 18 years old during that period of transition and b) Those that have moved houses during that transitional period. This will leads to people being disenfranchised from voting or participating in the 2015 elections. All these have of course an implication on 2015 Boundary Review. The existing estimates show that at least 3 million eligible voters miss from the current voter register. The white paper will only worsens the situation with fewer young people, ethnic minorities and private tenants appearing in the register. Implementation of this could lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of the inner city constituencies. Implications of the white paper could have devastating effects on the participation in democratic process thus further disconnecting the politics from any ordinary working people. The government should be able to come clean on this matter and explain the measures. The countrys citizens also have roles to play. Most times it is the fact that they refuse to accept responsibility and not stepping up to the plate that leads to the gap between political class and the public class. Engagement however takes time and it also takes money. The high taxes force ordinary people to work longer hours and harder for that matter. The high taxes reduce the disposable income of the people and less time to spend it. It is thus not surprising that they value it more an also have decreased time and finances to give to non-material courses and charity. Explanations for disengagement in politics are: 1. Public cynicism. This is due to the wrong belief that all politicians are manipulative and mendacious. This is definitely a negative feedback loop in operation fully. Some politicians’ cheap one-liners sometimes get a lot of media coverage and yet some comments by more thoughtful representatives are given less airtime or completely buried. This enhances the chances of paying more attention to the 10 or so-second-clip brigade thus lowering the caliber of the public debate and convincing future candidates that use of deceptive propaganda wins. Some prospective candidates either adopt the same strategy or they don’t run at all (Utter, 2011). 2. The education system has failed to convey knowledge on the political history, democratic values and the need for engaged citizens to be less fooled by the ongoing propaganda. 3. The popular false belief that the banal postings on the internet about some mundane matters actually constitute a constructive contribution to the society. 4. Feeling of lack of knowledge, insignificance and hopelessness about our inability or ability to solve global problems such as exceeding ecological limits, obscene misdistribution of wealth or climate change. 5.the view that control of decision-making systems lies with the wealthy who are seen to be greedy, corrupt and victims of false ideological consciousness (Hussey, 2012). 6. Weak election financing laws that usually enhance the influence of those who are rich. How to discard these reasons: 1. Better education about civics, critical thinking, applied ethics and values of the liberal democracy would make individuals more aware of their civic responsibilities and why it matters who forms the government. 2. Stronger election finance laws especially on the list of contributors, disallowing corporate and union donations and maximum expenditures etc. 3. Media outlets bear the heavy responsibility of offering infotainment purporting to be news, and also skewed commentary that favor the status quo and the interests of corporate advertisers. We should censor them, but perhaps those commentators with minority opinions should also be given access to big news platforms (Snell, 2010). 4. We need to start discuss reforming this first-past-the-post system. Many people feel that the proportional representation (PR) would be better since it would encourage more citizens to vote, since each and every ballot would count (under FPTP, the votes for the losing candidates do not). 5. Young people are key to solving some of these problems. Political scientist Henry Milner came up with a double-barreled way of scooping the youth into politics. He supports compulsory politics course in the senior year high school, and also lowering the voting age to 16 so that the kids can apply their new understanding in politics while it’s fresh (Howe, 2010). 6. Economic reforms are essential since massive disparities in wealth and influences have led to ordinary people’ disenfranchisement for politics, Some people suggest mandatory voting as a solution. This would however be a brutal travesty democracy. Democracy means that one has the right and choice, to vote or not if he or she pleases. Bibliography Baston, L., & Ritchie, K. (2004). Turning out or turning off?: an analysis of political disengagement and what can be done about it. London, Electoral Reform Society. Behavioral And Social Sciences Survey, Eulau, H., & March, J. G. (1969). Political science. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall. Flinders, M., & Curry, D. (2008). Deliberative democracy, elite politics and electoral reform. Policy Studies. 29, 371-392. London, Electoral Reform Society Howe, P. (2010). Citizens adrift: the democratic disengagement of young Canadians. Vancouver: UBC Press. Hussey, L. (2012). Polarized Politics and Citizen Disengagement: The Role of Belief Systems. American Politics Research. 40, 85-115. London, Electoral Reform Society Kritzer, A. H. (2008). Political theatre in post-Thatcher Britain: new writing : 1995-2005. Basingstoke [England], Palgrave Macmillan. Lewis, T. (2008). Electing not to vote: Christian reflections on reasons for not voting. Eugene: Ore, Cascade Books. Manwell, L. (2010). In Denial of Democracy: Social Psychological Implications for Public Discourse on State Crimes Against Democracy Post-9/11. American Behavioral Scientist. 53, 848-884. London, Electoral Reform Society Matthew Flinders. (2009). Democratic Drift Majoritarian Modification and Democratic Anomie in the United Kingdom. Oxford: Oxford Scholarship. Mattson, K. (2002). Youth and political disengagement. New York, Century Foundation Press. Pollard, N., Sakellariou, D., & Kronenberg, F. (2009). A political practice of occupational therapy. Edinburgh; Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. Rollenhagen, R. E. (1982). Testing disengagement theory as an explanation of political inactivity. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University: Dept. of Political Science, 1982. Snell, P. (2010). Emerging Adult Civic and Political Disengagement: A Longitudinal Analysis of Lack of Involvement With Politics. Journal of Adolescent Research. 25, 258-287. Edinburgh; Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier. Utter, G. H. (2011). Youth and Political Participation a Reference Handbook. Santa: Barbara, ABC-CLIO. Wilkins, K. G. (2001). The role of media in public disengagement from political life. Communication Abstracts. 24, 443-588. Edinburgh; Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier Read More