Involving young people in democracy
The iPod generation demands a more bespoke version of democracy
Voters are no longer content with the package deals offered by political parties in elections, argues Matt Qvortrup. Like music fans who prefer individualised playlists to pre-packaged albums, citizens want to choose individual policies that reflect their views – not just the party platform. This, he suggests, is a reason to move toward direct democracy […]
Feral politics: searching for meaning in the 21st century
At the end of the party conference season, Matthew Flinders reflects on a ‘depressing display of the death of politics’, arguing that the parties failed to promote new ideas and offer fresh choices. He finds parallels in George Monbiot’s recent work on responding to ecological decline, and wonders whether ‘re-wilding’ politics could save the democratic […]
Citizen schools offer a chance to rebuild our democracy from the bottom up
The Conservative Party’s ‘Big Society’ was supposed to bring about a new age of public involvement and active citizen participation in public affairs. But as that agenda crumbles, Jamie Audsley, the co-author of a new IPPR report, argues that to achieve those ends, we must place the citizenship agenda at the heart of every school. Similar PostsOn […]
Votes at 16: what the UK can learn from Austria, Norway and the Crown dependencies
Implementing the proposal in Ed Miliband’s party conference speech to lower the voting age would make Britain one of only a few countries to allow 16 year olds to vote. In this post, Democratic Audit asks leading democracy experts to share findings from nations that have introduced this change, focusing especially on Austria, Norway and, […]
Votes at 16: democracy experts respond to Ed Miliband’s proposal
Ed Miliband used his speech to the Labour Party conference this week to announce his support for lowering the voting age to 16 for all UK elections. This follows the decision to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in the Scottish independence referendum. In this post, Democratic Audit asks leading experts and practitioners to respond […]
The deficit model of education views citizenship teaching as an imposition rather than a right
Citizenship has been taught in British schools for over a decade. Dr Michalis Kakos suggests that citizenship education has the potential to help individuals exercise their democratic rights, but that that the flawed, ‘deficit model’ approach to citizenship teaching used to date has led to a failure to fully realise this ambition. Thom Brooks recently […]
For the UK public, politics is failing because of the flawed character of our political class
The UK public continues to believe in the ability of government to make a difference. New survey results show, however, that they have little faith in the competence and integrity of politicians. Will Jennings and Gerry Stoker analyse the findings and explore how our views of politicians are informed by factors such as party preference […]
The recent history of school governance has been one of an accelerating decline in democratic accountability
Free schools and academy schools have been flagship education policies for the Coalition since it came to power in 2010. But while the government claims that these schools are more responsive to local needs, Chris Waterman argues that they have no accountability to local authorities or indeed, to the local communities whose children they educate. […]
Young people are less likely to vote than older citizens, but they are also more diverse in how they choose to participate in politics
Participation in electoral politics has declined across Western Europe in recent decades as citizens have become increasingly disillusioned with conventional forms of politics. As James Sloam notes, this is especially true for the current generation of young Europeans, who have turned to alternative forms of political engagement that seem to have more relevance to their everyday lives. […]
England needs an influx of young, diverse councillors
Local councils continue to be a stronghold for older, retired, white men, where youth and diversity are often considered cause for suspicion rather than a resource of which to draw. Samir Jeraj, a former young Councillor himself, looks at the arguments for giving local government in the UK a shakeup, with an influx of fresh, […]
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