In 1080 there was 4.12% of the total electorate who were members of a political party. By the end of 2008, only 28 years later it dropped to 0.95%. Memberships of the Conservative party in particular the figures dropped from 1.20 million to 0.17 million, a drop of 1.03
Also it is criticised for the fact the in recent times no government has obtained 50% of the votes cast. Both of these statements are backed up by the result of the 2005 general election where Labour won 35.6% of the votes but 56.1% of the seats. In that same election the Liberal Democrats won 22% of the votes but only 9% of the seats. On top of these criticisms votes for small parties are often wasted. As shown in 2010 where in the general election the Green and other small parties combined achieved 7.9% of the votes but the Green party was the only one of these parties to gain a seat and they only won one seat.
However, Americans, regardless of all these progressions, feel unhappier in their government as they feel that their country has a fundamentally flawed political system; and have declining faith in their democracy. The Implications of this are that political participation has declined dramatically, since the 1960’s the voter turnout for presidential elections has fallen 20%. Voting is the least demanding of civic duties, other civic duties include party membership or participation in a school council. The past 40 years has seen an even more dramatic decrease in these kinds of political engagement. Some people blame this loss of faith in democracy on Watergate and Vietnam; however the doubt in government began before these events.
Political participation is the opportunities for and tendencies of the people to become involved in the political process, for example, voting, and involvement in pressure groups and standing in elections. Tony Blair and new labour encouraged a new type of active citizenship where citizens showed a greater commitment to community life and protected democracy by doing several things like promoting issues, getting involved in pressure groups, involvement in community action such as voluntary work, voting in elections and being active in political parties. New labour tried to promote active citizenship through education by introducing a new subject, “citizenship” which became part of the compulsory national curriculum. Public commitment in political participation is becoming an issue in the United Kingdom. The figures of those who did not vote in general elections has increased by 18% since 1964.
Crusades effected the English people politically, economically, and by exposing the Englishmen to new cultures. The Crusades had a significant influence in Europe in general, not just English people. At the time, the continent was united under a powerful Pope, but by the end of the 14th century, centralized bureaucracies (which have been defined as the foundation of the modern nation state) was flourishing in England, France, Spain, and other countries, due to the tyrannical dominance of the church during the Crusades. The Crusader society in the Kingdom of Jerusalem was also characterized by a culture of innovation, including political structures, governance, and taxation. The need to raise, transport, and supply the large armies led to a flourishing of trade throughout Europe.
In fact, due to loss of industry, between 1960 and 1981, more than 1.6 million manufacturing jobs were lost in the UK. In 1994, the inner cities of Britain had an unemployment rate 50% higher than the rest of the country, indicating that urban decline is dominant in inner-city areas; the distribution of which do tend to be clearly defined. Since the 1950s there has been widespread movement of employment away from the large conurbations to smaller urban and rural areas, which has had a knock-on effect on the deterioration of the physical and social environment and furthering the economic decline, all of which are components of
Although this happens infrequently there have been cases where Commons has voted against government. Good examples of this are with the Gurkhas row in 2008 and more prominently Blair’s plans to extend the The powers of the whip and party loyalty are diminishing during this coalition. Reports suggest that the voting behaviour of coalition MPs show that rebellion is at a postwar high. Similarly the last Labour government towards the end had major difficulties from backbenchers, with 112 Labour backbenchers going against the government at least once. Backbench rebellions have been more frequent than any since the second world war and for some MPs rebellion against the coalition is becoming a habit.
The evidence supporting the class dealignment thesis may be seen in the fall if the majority voting for their natural class. For instance, the percentage not voting for their natural class increased from 44% in 1987 to 64% in 1996. Moreover, in 1997, 61% of the DE social class voted for Labour whereas in 2001 it had decreased to 50%, therefore demonstrating that class dealignment shows a weakening relationship between social class and party support. In the mid 1960's, B voters supporting Conservative and C1 and 2 voters supporting Labour accounted for 64% of the total vote. But the 1970's saw a decline in the number of people voting according to their natural class.
As well as a decline in the total number of marriages, there is also a decline in marriage rates (the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population aged 16 and over). In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but this had declined to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Once again, even though there is a decline, British Social Attitude Surveys indicate that most people, whether single,
It is not only in America that the young do not exercise their democratic rights. In 2010 just 44% of people aged 18 to 24 voted in Britain’s general election, compared with 65% of people of all ages. In not a single European country do the young turn out more than older people. Historically, youth turnout has never been particularly high anywhere, but over the past few decades things have got worse. One explanation favoured by older people is that the young are simply lazy.