Involving young people in democracy
The people think it’s good to talk about how they are governed
Underestimating the public’s interest in being involved in discussions about the UK’s constitutional future is a mistake, find Jan Eichhorn and Daniel Kenealy in a wide-ranging survey. Moreover, when asked how decisions should be made about how England should be governed, the most popular option in all regions of England was to hold a referendum. Similar […]
20 things we learned about democracy in March 2015
The General Election is (nearly) here! And here at Democratic Audit UK, we’ve been ferreting away trying to find the most interesting clumps of information, conjecture, opinion and miscellaneous. Collating it all for your pleasure, as ever, is Sean Kippin, who has been helped enormously by the launch of the Democratic Dashboard – a new voter resource bringing […]
Fierce but short-lived: How does economic crisis affect political participation?
The Great Recession that hit Europe in 2008 led to the loss of millions of jobs and soaring levels of unemployment. In a recent study, Anna Kern, Sofie Marien and Marc Hooghe investigate whether the recent crisis depresses or boosts levels of political participation in Europe. They find that economic growth is positively associated with elite […]
Party environments shape the way that we, as citizens, think about politics
The UK’s two-party system is in steep decline, with the number of voters opting to back either Labour or the Conservatives dwindling, and parties such as UKIP, the SNP, and the Greens threatening to alter Britain’s electoral architecture. But how do party environments shape the way we think about politics? April A. Johnson argues that […]
‘Hashtag activism’ is not the solution to democratic inequality
The internet offers of swathe of new opportunities for democratic interaction, but how does this affect engagement levels among different groups? In this Policy Network repost, Mark Hooghe, Sofie Marien, and Jennifer Oser argue that what they term ‘hashtag activism’ is an inadequate solution to democratic equality. Similar PostsCan voters influence social policy?How can […]
Why participatory governance offers a realistic route to addressing the EU’s legitimacy crisis
How can EU decision-making be brought closer to Europe’s citizens? Based on a case study of the ‘REACH’ regulation governing the production and use of chemical substances, Karl-Oskar Lindgren writes on the potential for a participatory governance approach to increase the EU’s legitimacy by enhancing the capacity for stakeholders and civil society actors to play […]
20 things we learned about democracy in February 2015
February is the shortest month of the year, but with May’s General Election waddling ever closer, democracy factoids are never far away. Here, Democratic Audit UK’s Sean Kippin rounds up 20 more inane, amusing, and occasionally interesting bits of trivia and research for your amusement. Similar Posts20 things we learned about democracy in March 201520 […]
A disconnected political class, poor communication from politicians, and inadequate political education continue to put young people off politics
One of the defining democratic challenges of our time is the detachment of young people from the political process. Martin Price, who manages Warwick University’s youth political engagement project MyPlace, who here presents a video in which young people express their thoughts on the problem, argues that a disconnected political class, the inadequate communication of politicians, and […]
The deepening of Greek democracy is a crucial step towards economic recovery
The recent Greek election saw the radical leftist party Syriza, led by Alex Trsipras, come to power on a platform of opposing the “Troika” of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund and their punitive austerity programme. Eleni Xiarchogiannopoulou argues that this and subsequent events represent a crucial deepening of Greek democracy […]
A political education portal which brings together currently disparate democratic information should be developed
In the aftermath of National Voter Registration Day, Titus Alexander outlines which principles should guide political education, which has a key role to play in increasing registration and political engagement more widely. He pinpoints the main resources we can use to education ourselves about politics in the run up to the general election, and argues that […]
Democratic Audit's core funding is provided by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Additional funding is provided by the London School of Economics.