How To Answer A Question On The Participation Crisis in A-Level Politics

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]So, what is a participation crisis? If some argue there is a participation crisis in the UK, as there's declining participation in a number of key traditional areas of political involvement, in particular voter turnout and party membership. And as a result, this can be seen as undermining democracy in the UK.

[00:00:15]As this involvement, this political action, is actually key to giving legitimacy to the government and ensuring democracy is truly by the people rather than a small section of the people.

[00:00:26]There's a couple of perspectives here that I think you can use to really impress the examiner. On the one hand, it can be argued that this declining perspective declining participation is a crisis of democracy. As we can argue that for democracy to be successful, citizens need to engage with democracy on an active basis, keeping it healthy and ensuring that the political system is fulfilling the wishes of the majority of the population. And therefore, this declining participation is a crisis. But on the other hand, you can bring the protect protective perspective on democracy. Saying actually the kind of the key purpose of democracy is to protect individual freedom, um and it doesn't need large-scale citizen participation. As long as it has enough participation to grant the system legitimacy, democracy serves its purpose of protecting individual rights and freedoms um effectively. And that there's still enough participation to uphold democracy in the UK. It's not a crisis effectively.

[00:01:27]Um whether the UK has a participation crisis is a really topical debate, given mistrust in politics and declining participation in elections and party membership in the 21st century. A question is likely to focus on the extent to which you think there's a crisis in the UK, such as evaluate the view that declining political involvement undermines UK democracy.

[00:01:45]Or evaluate the view there is a participation crisis in UK democracy.

[00:01:50]And in terms of the structure you could use, I could have first look at elections and referendums, second at all, membership, and finally other forms of political info. Okay, so this is the plan here. Evaluate the view that the UK democracy is in a participation crisis.

[00:02:05]In this first paragraph, we're having a look at elections and referendums, arguing that it does because voter turnout has been a great deal less than the average between 1945 and 1970, which is 76% in recent elections. In 2024, it's just 59.7% and it's been even lower in second order elections and referendums. It was just 53% in the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections and 51.6% in the 2026, sorry, that should say Senate elections. And low turnout, we're explaining, means that governments are elected on a reduced share of the popular vote that calls their mandate into question, therefore undermines democracy. And we're then kind of you could bring in some of this explanation effectively of how this is driven by distrust in politicians, for example, the huge number of by-elections due to kind of misconduct or severe kind of breaking the law effectively, for example, Peter Bone in 2024. And this continued the current Labour government with freebiegate, for example, we had a look at when we had a look at party funding.

[00:03:09]But on the other hand, we argue the UK doesn't have a participation crisis.

[00:03:13]The 2014 referendum and 2016 referendums on Scottish independence and Brexit, which had high turnouts of 84.6% and 72.2% show there's still significant engagement surrounding key issues. It suggests that there's not a participation crisis. People um kind of are still engaged in important political issues on which they feel they can have significant control, but vote less in elections where they distrust politicians. There's not a participation crisis, there's just a problem with politicians um effectively.

[00:03:47]Party membership, we can argue it does have a participation crisis because there's been really decreasing participation in political parties. Only 1.6% of the electorate now belongs to a party compared to 3.8% in 1983. The Tory party has an estimated 100,000 members today compared to 400,000 in the mid-1990s. And it can be argued that it's kind of been driven by a negative perception of MPs due to various scandals and promises being being broken. For example, with Starmer, this idea um there's been a drop in membership because his increasingly centrist policies betray the policies he made in the leadership election. And we can We're bringing in here then this developmental perspective on democracy, which sees kind of regular active participation in political parties that are really key.

[00:04:35]Um um effectively um that kind of because there's this decreased participation in them, um it undermined democracy um effectively. So, you need this participation to uphold democracy.

[00:04:50]But this counter-effectively that actually you've seen a significant rise in kind of some parties' membership. I'd bring in Reform, which surpassed 270,000 members in May 2026. Whilst the Greens have have over 230,000 members. And this suggests there's not a crisis. People still use parties and and participate um if they propose real change and don't represent the establishment effectively. And And it's it's not that there's a participation crisis. People just don't support the two main parties as much as they did as shown in the 2024 election. We support this with also with the protective perspective on democracy we have a look at.

[00:05:30]And then finally, other methods of political participation. We can argue that it doesn't have a participation crisis because you've seen involvement in a number of different areas effectively, including pressure groups and direct action. You've seen these kind of um protests on Iraq War, Brexit, Black Lives Matter, and the climate crisis have also in kind of in relation to Gaza being really popular.

[00:05:53]Showing that people will kind of participate in politics. It's just It's just conventional politics that has let them down.

[00:06:01]And we've got an example of e-petitions um as well.

[00:06:05]Example, key e-petition on kind of reversing winter fuel payments effectively.

[00:06:10]But the counter here is that these are less important than voting and party membership. First of all, some of them are just kind of slacktivism. Kind of people kind of playing up playing a role, particularly online forms of engagement, but they're not really engaging in politics. It's just It's not a replacement for traditional forms of participation. For example, on the 14th of January, a petition calling an immediate general election was debated in Parliament and received after receiving over a million signatures. So, people may have participated in signing a petition, but it's never really going to cause any change. And it can also be argued that voting elections and party membership are really key to the UK's democratic system. And therefore, even if there's kind of participation kind of in protests, there's still a crisis as we need to grant the system legitimacy.

[00:06:56]So, I hope what you've seen across this plan is a combination of statistics, but also arguments about why it matters and why there potentially is or isn't a participation crisis. We're going to kind of look at that in a bit more detail now when we look at these key A-star tips for this topic.

[00:07:18]So, as with the media, with the participation crisis, you want to make sure you're making specific points. And this is really important for participation crisis cuz a lot of people just say, "Okay, there's decreased turnout." Or there's decreased party membership.

[00:07:32]Um but you really want to explain why that's a problem effectively. So, rather than just saying there's a participation crisis because there's a decline in turnout, saying a key argument that the UK does have a participation crisis is that the decline in voter turnout undermines democracy by reducing the extent to which the government represents the population and calling into question the strength of the government's mandate as a result. So, specific arguments are really key. So, you're picking up these analysis marks, particularly this question where it can be quite kind of statistic heavy, um, effectively. You do want some of these specific statistics, though.

[00:08:07]For example, the turnouts of the general elections recently compared to historically 76% between 1945 and 1997 on average, but, um, 59.7% or kind of 59.8% in 2024 general election. The turnouts of the, um, recent referendums as well as party membership figures.

[00:08:29]Um, most students will be able to kind of ex- understand and explain the arguments that there is a participation crisis. So, you want to make sure you're prepared for the other side of the argument, um, as well. And you really want to be able to explain why it is or isn't a problem to really justify both sides of the argument. You can bring in the protective and developmental perspectives on democracy to bolster your analysis in doing so, effectively.

[00:08:54]To give you an example, A-star main paragraph where this is implemented.

[00:08:58]One key argument that UK does have a participation crisis is that the decline in voter turnout in the 21st century UK elections fundamentally undermines democracy by reducing the extent to which the government represents the population and calling into question into question of the government's mandate. The specific point about why it's a crisis effectively. We're then supporting it with specific statistics.

[00:09:20]Um, showing how turnout is significantly lower effectively and even lower in second order elections. And these create a major problem with then kind of not only introducing but analyzing them to show how it's a crisis. These create a major problem for British democracy as when governments are elected on a reduced share of the popular vote, it calls the strength of their mandate into question. And that shows that there's a participation crisis in UK democracy as a healthy democracy in which the government is trusted and represents the population requires significant popular involvement and enthusiasm, which is not currently the case. But then we're countering that saying that our group doesn't have a participation crisis.

[00:09:57]Also with a specific point. As the population continues to be very engaged in parts of the political process where they feel they can make a real difference.

[00:10:05]Rather than a crisis in popular participation, the dip in turnout was because voters knew the result was all but decided. And when they know their vote will make a difference, they do turn out. And then bringing the specific examples of Scottish referendum and the EU referendum and analyzing them as well. Before finishing off with a mini conclusion that has a clear judgment.

[00:10:27]Overall however, the more persuasive argument remains that UK democracy is in a participation crisis. There is a clear worrying trend in turnout for UK general elections, which are by far the most important form of political participation in the UK. Irrespective of the reasons for this or participation other ways, this creates major problems for British democracy by making the government unrepresentative of the population and therefore less legitimate.

[00:10:53]And finally, you want some nuanced evaluation rather than just having a simple yes or no. Could you bring to your some complexity? Could you justify your argument using the protective or developmental perspectives on democracy?

[00:11:05]Could you use the terms? What does it mean for that to be a crisis? Is there declining participation but not a crisis? Can you really Or can you really try to explain justify why the type of declining participation is a crisis? And if you're arguing that there is a participation crisis, should you Could you say what you think should change?

[00:11:22]For example, there should be reforms to the franchise in order to correct this.

[00:11:25]You don't have to do all of these. It's an example so that kind of more complex evaluation you could bring in to impress the examiner.