To what extent is there a crisis of participation in Britain?
There are a many ways in which citizens can participate in politics in the UK without necessarily having to vote for example: joining a political party, boycotting, and even signing petitions and fund raising. All of these methods provide political involvement without a democratic vote being placed. Participation in marches has increased recently as more people see the effects of this form of involvement in politics. However, there is an argument that there has been a participation crisis over the past years in the UK. A participation crisis is when less and less citizens take part in political activities; this can be shown in the decrease of voter turnout and the level of participation. This is in some ways a crisis as it means that some people within the population will not be represented by a vote, and so may not be politically catered for. This would lead to some citizens being favoured in politics as they actually affect who is in power with their vote. On the other hand, there is an argument that there is in fact not a participation crisis because the turnout of voting is increasing and specific forms of participation are also on the rise.The main concern about democracy in the UK comes from evidence of rising political apathy. Some people have seen this as nothing more than a ‘participation crisis’ Political Apathy is the lack of caring or strong emotions linked to politics. Politically apathetic people are far less likely to take it upon themselves to vote as they won’t have strong political views for or against any party. Deteriorating rates of voter turnout and falling levels of party membership despite there being opportunities for participation show evidence. There are three main reasons to show why there is a participation crisis in the UK. The first reason is the public. Due to people’s increasing lack of community care, citizens fail to pull together and look out for each other, which decreases the interest and connection they have in politics.