Anti-Politics: 12 Explanations? Gerry Stoker

Complex patterns Differences between countries Differences over time Differences between social groups Complexity in and of explanation

Anti-politics: WHAT IS IT? Attitudes? Individual Behaviours? Collective Actions?

Five types of “decline” trajectory Flatliners: Italy, Greece Modest decliners: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany Slow burning and deep decliners: UK, US Abrupt decliners: Spain, Portugal, Japan Blessed decliners: Australia, Canada In each case of course the story is complicated…

INPUT: SOCIAL CHANGE 1/1 Input/ social capital Decline in social capital ( and more broadly the quality of civil society) means loss of capacity to engage in associational activity and impacts on anti-politics as citizens support and independent dynamic to engage is weakened 1/2 Input/ decline of collectivism Decline in collective institutions from trade unions, through churches and large firms reflects an individualisation of life ( more consumer focus and less citizenship focus) 1/3 Input / inequality Increased inequality given impact of economic globalization has created a more fragmented citizenry and led to the intensified exclusion of some from the political process

INPUT: ATTITUDINAL CHANGE 2/1 Input / Less deferential more critical citizens As citizens have become more educated and information more freely available they have become more critical and challenging to all types of authority, including political authority 2/2 Input / More issue oriented less partisan Citizens are less committed to one partisan perspective or party and more issue-driven and fragmented in their interests and therefore less loyal and more selective in their political engagement 2/3 Input / Impact of neo-liberalism and depoliticization The dominance of neo-liberal ideology has weakened citizens’ sense of what government can do and what action in the public realm can address, thereby limiting engagement with politics and processes of depoliticization have removed a swathe of decisions from public input

THROUGHPUT 3/1 Throughput / political elites out of touch and narrowly selected Political leaders are drawn from an increasingly small pool, often lack a broader life experience. The declining social base of political elites in turn rests on the weak and declining membership and active capacity of political parties. 3/2 Throughput : media culture and spin response The emergence of intense 24 hour media coverage of politics, and the parallel developments in social media has developed a sense that politics is obsessively short-term, focused on spin and presentation and lacks the substance to demand engaged public attention 3/3 Throughput: dominance of lobby politics and special interests Politics is dominated by special interests and the lobbying of those seeking favours from government rather than any concern for the public interest. The nature of campaign and lobby finance, party funding and networks of influence and ties confirm that politics does its business with the few rather than for the many

OUTPUT 4/1 Output: Opaqueness of Governing System The complexity of modern governance arrangements caused by the impact globalisation and other factors means that the system lacks a basic accountability or legitimacy, turning many away from politics 4/2 Output : Failure to tackle big or long-term issues Politics cannot grapple with the big issues such as climate change or economic renewal; nor can it because of democratic myopia driven by electoral and other popular pressures deal with long-term issues such as care for the elderly 4/3 Output : economic austerity Politicians and politics have presided over economic failings and loss of living standards and potentially worse still connived with bankers and others in making ordinary people pay for the problems caused