Apathy and Contemporary Democracy - Essay Example

Apathy and Contemporary Democracy The concept of political apathy is daunting. The demanding nature of its meaning and the requirements for its application render it all the more complex in democracies. In the context of democratic discourses, political apathy is an important tool to assess the advantages and disadvantages of democracy. The application of this concept requires a particular set of conditions, and there should be a shared meaning of what democratic apathy connotes to the participants of a debate over the interpretations of this concept. Democratic apathy is two sided, in its application. First, it requires individual responsibility for non – participation. The second side, transfers the responsibility onto other factors such as the elites, institutional practices, structures of society, and the administrative policies in society. The first face of the democratic apathy concept depends on the ideology of free choice; and this allows individuals to express apathy towards any issue that they dislike. However, individuals must pursue other choices, which may not result in apathy. On the other hand, the second face of this concept imposes a condition on individuals, whereby, individuals may presume that apathy is a state of mind. They may also consider that political outcomes brought about by several forces such as structures, institutions, or manipulation or exploitation by the elite of society. At that specific juncture, individuals may assume that they cannot control such manipulation by the elite, or change the structure of institutions. This is because the level of knowledge of these individuals makes them presuppose in such a manner. The outcome is a submissive attitude by individuals towards democracy. Both these faces render individuals subservient to the forces of democracy; and impose responsibility in different ways on them (DeLuca, 1995, P.10-11). Political life comprises the very spirit of life. Liberalism requires the government to provide adequate protection to the private life of individuals, who are self – sufficient. The Greek philosophers referred to individuals who lead a private life without participating in public affairs, and who were irresponsible towards and unmindful of public life, as idiots (DeLuca, 1995, P.10-11). According to C.B. Macpherson, a political theorist, democracy connotes something bad for some individuals. Every individual knows that democracy implies rule of the people, by the people and for the people. A democratic government should act according to the wishes of the majority of its citizens. This could lead to evil and do away with individual freedom. This was the presumption of many early philosophers. Subsequently, during the past five decades, people began to realise that democracy is a good thing. The First World War had created an environment, in which people recognised the importance of democracy and started to respect its philosophy. Western allied leaders had fought in the World War, in order to prove to the world that democracy was the safest and best form of government (DeLuca, 1995, P.10-11). In 322 B.C., Greek rulers derogated from democracy and established empires. However, in modern times, democracy has regained its importance and respect; nevertheless it has assumed a liberal federalist republican form. The Federalist strategy of undermining the spirit of democracy is self defeating, and democratic values are declining in the federalist approach. The consequence is the destruction of societal hierarchy, which is the foundation of democracy. Constitutional design and the manner, in which the representation of people has been carried out; have undermined the interests of the people and their democratic aspirations. The Federalist approach had succeeded in blunting the desire of citizens to participate in political activities. It was opined by a leading authority on democracy that these measures would serve to accelerate the degeneration of civic virtue among the population (DeLuca, 1995, P.10-11). Civil society comprises of a number of institutions, and in the absence of the involvement of a citizenry – that is knowledgeable and invested with adequate authority – with these institutions, democracy is rendered a mere farce, consisting of periodic elections. Despite the fact that elections are indispensable for a democracy, something more is required. Involvement in politics is not restricted to exercising one’s franchise (Fahmy, 2006, P.23). The fact of the matter is that by and large, involvement of the public with politics is restricted to the act of casting the vote; and not surprisingly, citizens are deemed to be mere electors. Consequently, the rights of citizens, with respect to politics are mainly confined to what can at best be described as casting the vote during elections. Most of the citizens are precluded from actively taking part in governance. The apparent radicalism of New Labour, belies the fact that none of its measures, in respect of democracy, attempt to render the citizen a direct contributor to the development of policy (Fahmy, 2006, P.23). The bitter truth, which every citizen has to countenance, is that liberal political theories promote passive participation in democracy. It is their avowed principle to restrict citizen participation in the democratic process to the mere casting of votes. Several scholars have surmised that what is paramount for a democracy to grow and remain healthy is the capability of the citizens and not their active participation in governance. The tenets of liberal democracy are muddling at their best, and the hapless citizens must be active and inactive, deeply committed while remaining aloof, and powerful and submissive at the same time. This is the acme of contradictory behaviour (Fahmy, 2006, P.23). These scholars have further opined that if citizens take greater interest in the democratic process, then democratic politics could become unstable. Consequently, Western democracies implement a political system, wherein public participation is restricted to according legitimacy to the extant systems, with little or no influence on policy. There has been considerable degradation of democracy and it has been rendered a mere exercise in bringing to power a few individuals who flout democratic principles at every turn (Fahmy, 2006, P.23). However, the principles of participatory democracy are opposed to these emasculating concepts of liberal democracy, and entail the participation of citizens in the making of policy and decision taking process. In this system of democracy, significant importance is attached to citizen participation in the democratic process, and such participation is considered essential for vesting citizens with authority (Fahmy, 2006, P.23). Political apathy has been a perennial problem in Scotland. In the recent elections only fifty percent of the people had cast their vote. The exact turnout was fifty – two percent, despite the interesting and highly competitive campaigns between the Scottish National Party and the Labour party. The people’s turnout had never exceeded the sixty percent mark in Scotland. In some constituencies the turnout was around fifty percent only. In Dumfries and Stirling constituencies, this figure went up to more than sixty percent. However, constituencies in Glasgow Baillieston or Glasgow Springburn disclosed a voter turnout that was below forty percent (Election 2007: Tight fight for votes fails to boost poor turnout, 5 May 2007). According to Ken Ritchie, CEO of the Electoral Reform Society, the turnout had been greater than what had been predicted. He was insistent in maintaining that the government should undertake efforts to educate people about the importance of participating in politics through school education and advertisements targeted at adults. Several more reforms are needed in the present electoral processes, so that people recognize the importance of elections. The people have to take an active part in electoral reforms. Presently, only the older people are exercising their franchise and that to out of a sense of duty. The younger people neither vote nor have any such sense of duty. Thus measures have to be initiated to include young people in the voting process, by continuously issuing widespread advertisements. He also stated that no single organisation could handle this problem on its own. A cultural change has to take place in the electoral process and in politics (Election 2007: Tight fight for votes fails to boost poor turnout, 5 May 2007). Scottish political apathy resulted from the deliberate actions of the government, which ignored the needs and aspirations of the Scottish people. The politicians and the elected governors are the main culprits for this deplorable situation. The 2007 election indicated the choices available in the future. The coalition of the Labour party and Liberal Democrats was responsible, to some extent, for the poor voter turnout in some constituencies. Scotland’s highly acclaimed continued cooperation in all areas with the government in Westminster indicates unquestioning subservience. Consequently, the so called decentralisation of power for the purpose of Scottish solutions to Scottish problems is a mere devolution and limited to a token status (A real choice, 25 April 2007). The people of Scotland still harbour hopes for a total change in this situation. The government had reverted back to supported higher education for the children. It is hoped that education will have the expected standard. There are strong hopes that there will be a complete removal of weapons of mass destruction from Scotland. Sociologists call for the participation by young people in politics, if Scotland is to flourish. The youth of Scotland are apathetic towards politics. Furthermore, young people are, in general, less fearful of change in comparison to the older people. They are also more willing to work for the good of the community and are less prone to selfish opportunism. During Thatcher’s rule, the older people were provided with greater opportunities in politics than the young people. It was assumed in those days that aged people would have maturity in several things and would therefore have a much broader vision than the younger people. The 2007 election once again proved that Scottish people have the courage to aspire for a better future and overcome their innate fears (A real choice, 25 April 2007). Most western democratic countries concentrate on the electoral process. They believe that the health of a democracy depends on the mechanics of elections. Therefore, they assume that an efficiently supervised electoral process makes for an efficient and sound democracy. Similarly, a lack of monitoring of the electoral process would result in a flawed democracy (Crawshaw, 11/07/97). Voter apathy weakens the spirit of democracy; moreover, the integrity of a state would be affected by such voter apathy and could lead to the incursion of terrorists. In addition, no citizen will accept the introduction of legislation that provides for the detainment of individuals, merely on suspicion of having indulged in acts of terrorism and without a fair trial. Parliament pretends that its moral authority is undermined by such activities, although it is not vested with any such moral authority. One particular survey revealed that people had apathy towards politics, because of their distrust of politicians. Scholars claim that people are not interested in politics; however, this contention is incorrect. There were several movements against the bureaucracy and politicians; and the recent anti – war movement clearly established the fact that people were observing politicians and their intentions. Public apathy may be linked to the actions of politicians, who ensure that the government does not take the opinion of the people in major national issues. Some of these issues were the involvement of the UK in the war with Iraq; the introduction of genetically modified crops and the privatisation of the Tube trains. The Labour government led by Tony Blair and his cronies, deliberately ignored the people, while taking these momentous and reprehensible decisions (Thomas, 4/12/2004). People have been sidelined and every political party has proved to be in favour of privatisation and the corporate world. When people no longer have a say in the manner in which the government has to function, then democracy is reduced to a farce. In fact, any country that becomes a signatory to the World Trade Organisation has to promote the ongoing process of privatisation throughout the world (Thomas, 4/12/2004). Participation by the youth in a number of social issues in the UK society is scanty. The young people are not participating in the general political process. People, who are below the age of twenty – five years, are not registering their names to cast votes. In the 1992 General Elections, the voting by young people had been only forty – three percent of the total votes cast. There are theories that describe the attitude of young people in general political processes and their political apathy. First, young people have the universal characteristic of non – involvement. As they grow up into adults their responsibilities increase, with a corresponding enhancement in their political interests. Survey reports suggest that young people between fifteen to sixteen years of age in the United Kingdom are disinterested in politics. A similar situation prevails in other European countries, the United States of America, Canada and Australia. Second, disillusionment and political apathy are trends that have developed recently among the youth. The declining party membership among the youth serves to confirm this view. There is a negligible participation by young people in the political arena; for instance, the young Conservative membership had been around fifty thousand in the year 1970, which reduced to a mere ten thousand by the 1990’s (Gardiner, Matthews, & Johnston, 2000. Pp. 470 – 471). In 1997, the Industrial Society published a research report, wherein it claimed that prior to the 1997 General Elections, only five percent of those under twenty – five years of age, depicted interest in national politics. A majority, namely, eighty percent of young people between the age groups of sixteen and twenty – five years stated that they were not members of any political party. The reason for this alienation was that young people were busy with developing their career and utilizing opportunities for improving their career prospects. Another reason could be that the younger generation was more affluent than their parents had been at their age. Political apathy can be linked to the growing cynicism about politics, which has increasingly been shown to be based on immorality and corruption. These conditions do not attract the interest of the youth, who are chary of participating in such sordid politics. Another reason suggests that young people develop a sense of marginalisation due to the treatment they had received from their parents, much before their attainment of a voting age. This marginalisation discourages young people from participating in politics. The government is committed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite these efforts, young people, particularly below the age of eighteen years are hardly provided with opportunities to take part in debates about their economic, social and environmental future. There are no establishments or organisations that deal with the interests and priorities of young people. There have been some recent reforms in this context, which concerned the relationship between the persons in power and the persons who are ruled by the former. Moreover, there is no effort to establish the practice of consulting young people. In the UK, participation in politics is considered to be an adult activity (Gardiner, Matthews, & Johnston, 2000. Pp. 470 – 471). Registrations to the Scottish National Party’s membership are depicting an increasing trend. On an average, nearly one hundred people are enrolling their names every week. This political party had emerged triumphant in the recent elections; and this could be one of the chief reasons for the increase in membership. After a long period of time, an appreciable number of people are emerging from their political apathy and joining some political party or the other (Politics get interesting, 6 July 2007). A plausible reason for this phenomenon could be that the political parties in Scotland, are being governed systematically and thereby attracting more people to join politics. However, the campaigns conducted by the Labour party elicited a very poor public response, and the people’s participation in these campaigns was meagre. These campaigns served to reflect the people’s disillusion with politics in Scotland. Nevertheless, the Scottish National Party registered a high number of new memberships, which proved to be the exception to the general trend in Scotland. The public apathy was evident in the turnout that was estimated at fifty – two percent, which was far less than the voter turnout in the previous elections to the Scottish parliament. However, for a self – governed state, such public apathy could prove to be disastrous. Political observers are concerned about how long the trend indicated in the increase in the membership of the Scottish National Party would continue. As such, this increased turn – out of people in Scottish politics augurs well for public awareness and for reducing public apathy towards politics (Politics get interesting, 6 July 2007). The reason for the diminishing interest in the political process is the continuous disappointment experienced by people, due to the misdeeds of politicians in power. People lack knowledge about the processes and systems of politics. They do not have an understanding of government, politics and the strained relationships between the government and individual citizens. Political apathy can be caused by low self confidence of people or a sense of unimportance engendered by racial differences, nationality, and religion. It may also result from improper social mobility or lack of perception of the political reality. These negative perceptions can be termed as political negativism, political defeatism or anarchism. Individuals who come out of these negative perceptions can be treated as politically normal people. Those who excessively and extensively participate in politics are to be considered as political activists (Raymond, 1992. Page 382 – 383). It has become obvious that people are not interested in participating in the electoral process. One of the causes for this lack of interest is the loss of faith in politicians and the political system. Moreover, the general public is totally disenchanted with democracy and its institutions. In respect of the youth, their singular lack of interest in the political system can be attributed to their engagement with other pursuits like career advancement and the enhancement of their material possessions. However, of late, the public has demonstrated keen interest in reforming the political structures, so as to have a system of governance that is more responsive to their needs. Moreover, people want politicians to be trustworthy and accountable for their actions. As such, the desire of the citizenry is for a government that addresses the burning social problems of society. The principal cause for the inability of the public to interact more meaningfully with the political system is the exclusion of the public from governance. The public is restricted to merely electing the government, which furthers its own interests. There is no transparency in the extant political system. This has to change, if public apathy is to be replaced with active participation of the citizens in governance. Works Cited A real choice. (25 April 2007). The Herald . Crawshaw, S. (11/07/97). The reign of bitter apathy. New Statesman , 13647431, Vol. 126, Issue 4359. DeLuca, T. (1995, P.10-11). The Two Faces of Political Apathy. Temple University Press. ISBN: 1566393159. Election 2007: Tight fight for votes fails to boost poor turnout. (5 May 2007). The Scotsman . Fahmy, E. (2006, P.23). Young Citizens: Young People’s Involvement in Politics and Decision. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN: 0754642593. Gardiner, V., Matthews, M. H., & Johnston, R. J. (2000. Pp. 470 – 471). The Changing Geography of the United Kingdom. Routledge. ISBN: 0415179017. Politics get interesting. (6 July 2007). The Daily Express . Raymond, W. J. (1992. Page 382 – 383). Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal. Brunswick Publishing Corp. ISBN: 155618008X. Thomas, M. (4/12/2004). My new think-tank will cure voter apathy: we will offer prizes and air miles and allow you to swap your vote here for one in America, so you can have a say in British foreign policy. New Statesman , 13647431, Vol. 133, Issue 4683. Read More