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| Apathy Wins by a Landslide |
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The lack of electoral commitment that we witness is not just in the traditional democracies, but even in emerging democracies such as Poland and Slovakia where turnout was 21% and 20% respectively in the recent European elections. Many allude to the loss of trust in politicians, others point to the growth in single issue campaigns where concrete results are considered easier to achieve; some, especially in political circles, blame the media for their cynical portrayal of politicians. However what is also clear is that the choice faced by the electorate has also narrowed over recent years. With the fall of communism and the diminishing of the left/right polarised debates of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, most political parties have now converged around the centre of the political spectrum. In America, or even Britain, the similarities of the main political parties now completely dwarf their differences. As John Curtice professor of politics at Strathclyde university said in 2003: “For many commentators, New Labour’s move to the centre is a reflection of the reality that in a post-communist, globalised world there are no big choices left to make any more about what kind of society and economy we want to have. All that divides the parties is their relative ability to manage capitalism. Meanwhile, there is certainly no law of politics that says that the Conservatives must recover. Britain may perhaps for all practical purposes have become a one-party state. But if it has, then we should not expect many voters to think that voting is worth the effort, no matter how easy the internet might make it to do so in future.”
As evidence for his contention, Curtice cites the fact that 17% of the British electorate told pollsters after 2001 that they believed there was no ‘great difference’ between Labour and the Conservatives.
The absence of a great philosophical divide may well be a contributory cause, in conjunction with the other stated reasons for the increased lack of electoral enthusiasm that we see. Although the associated lack of electoral commitment may not mean an immediate crisis for the western body-politic, complacency would be a mistake. The fact that 55% of people in a recent ICM opinion poll in the Guardian believe that the prime minister lied about the war in Iraq should act as a sobering experience for all politicians.
Within the current debate, apathy has only been defined in the context of falling electoral support and enthusiasm for the three traditional political parties. Under this definition many people who engage in single issue campaigns on issues such as the environment or people who support alternative societal ideas are also mistakenly categorised as apathetic. Apathy in its true sense of the word should only relate to those who have lost enthusiasm for all politics in general rather than those who decide to exercise their political will in alternative ways. Though most people would accept that apathy is a problem that needs to be resolved, the rejection of the status quo should be seen in a completely different light.
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