Is there a participation crisis in the UK?
Argument: no, but due to areas of democratic deficit participation is decreasing inn the UK and could lead to a participation crisis
Paragraph 1:
P - general election turnout is arguably our best way of analysing whether there has been a participation crisis, and the UK has concerningly low turnout
E - compared to turnouts of 70% and above before the 1990s, recent elections have yielded far lower turnouts such as 69% in 2017 and 67% in 2019. The UK has a lower turnout than most European countries, such as the Netherland’s who had a turnout of 81.9% in 2017.
A - decreasing participation in elections, which are arguably the most important area of UK democracy, could demonstrate a decreasing interest in politics and thus a trend towards a participation crisis. Furthermore, as the UK is a representative democracy, lowered participation undermines democratic legitimacy
C - but, low turnout does not always signify a participation crisis
E - lowest turnout of recent years was in 2001 with a turnout of 59.4% which should suggest a participation crisis
A - but actually this was just in the context of the 2001 election, where New Labour were guaranteed a clear win and so fewer people went out to vote because they were happy with labour winning (hapathy)
C - but even recent elections should have garnered a greater turnout than the ones they did such as the 2019 election, which was arguably set in a tense political climate with the context of Brexit and more divisive leaders, yet there was only a turnout of 67%
L - so, the UK is not at a crisis level in terms of political participation but it is certainly a lot lower than expected and this does suggest decreased political engagement
Paragraph 2:
P - another factor suggesting decreased political engagement is that of party membership
E - party membership has decreased significantly for the conservative party, from 3% in 1970 to 0.5%. Labour’s general membership has also decreased, though not as much
A -
C - but, this isn’t always the case and party membership is not the best measure of political participation
Argument: no, but due to areas of democratic deficit participation is decreasing inn the UK and could lead to a participation crisis
Paragraph 1:
P - general election turnout is arguably our best way of analysing whether there has been a participation crisis, and the UK has concerningly low turnout
E - compared to turnouts of 70% and above before the 1990s, recent elections have yielded far lower turnouts such as 69% in 2017 and 67% in 2019. The UK has a lower turnout than most European countries, such as the Netherland’s who had a turnout of 81.9% in 2017.
A - decreasing participation in elections, which are arguably the most important area of UK democracy, could demonstrate a decreasing interest in politics and thus a trend towards a participation crisis. Furthermore, as the UK is a representative democracy, lowered participation undermines democratic legitimacy
C - but, low turnout does not always signify a participation crisis
E - lowest turnout of recent years was in 2001 with a turnout of 59.4% which should suggest a participation crisis
A - but actually this was just in the context of the 2001 election, where New Labour were guaranteed a clear win and so fewer people went out to vote because they were happy with labour winning (hapathy)
C - but even recent elections should have garnered a greater turnout than the ones they did such as the 2019 election, which was arguably set in a tense political climate with the context of Brexit and more divisive leaders, yet there was only a turnout of 67%
L - so, the UK is not at a crisis level in terms of political participation but it is certainly a lot lower than expected and this does suggest decreased political engagement
Paragraph 2:
P - another factor suggesting decreased political engagement is that of party membership
E - party membership has decreased significantly for the conservative party, from 3% in 1970 to 0.5%. Labour’s general membership has also decreased, though not as much
A -
C - but, this isn’t always the case and party membership is not the best measure of political participation
