The Dimensions and Impact of Political Discontent in Britain

Jennings, Will; Stoker, Gerry; Twyman, Joe

doi:10.1093/pa/gsv067

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The prevailing sentiment, or “mood” ( Stimson 1991 ), in public opinion underlies a range of survey responses. This is consistent with commonality observed in expressions of discontent at the individual level ( Jennings, Stoker, and Twyman 2016 ).…”

Section: Meeting the Challenge: A Longitudinal Measure Of Political Dsupporting

confidence: 91%

The Decline in Diffuse Support for National Politics

Jennings

Clarke

Moss

et al. 2017

Public Opinion Quarterly

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This research note considers how to track long-term trajectories of political discontent in Britain. Many accounts are confined to using either survey data drawn from recent decades or imperfect behavioral measures such as voting or party membership as indicators of political disengagement. We instead develop an approach that provides the long view on political disaffection. We first consider time-series data available from repeated survey measures. We next replicate historic survey questions to observe change in public opinion relative to earlier points in time. Finally, we use Stimson’s (1991) dyad-ratios algorithm to construct an over-time index of political discontent that combines data from multiple poll series. This reveals rising levels of political discontent for both specific and diffuse measures of mass opinion. Our method and findings offer insights into the rising tide of disillusionment afflicting many contemporary democracies.

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Section: Meeting the Challenge: A Longitudinal Measure Of Political Dsupporting

confidence: 91%

The Decline in Diffuse Support for National Politics

Jennings

Clarke

Moss

et al. 2017

Public Opinion Quarterly

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“…income group, age, education level) and their motivation underpinning the system usage need to be retrieved. On top of the "inclusion" issue, the rising tide of discontentment in the global political landscape has aroused anti-politics orientation among the citizens [19]. This scenario creates the feeling of unrepresented in politic, unheard by the politicians, excluded due to social class and constrained opportunity to influence political decisions [20].…”

Section: Conceptual Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Criteria for Evaluating a Multi-channel Digitally Enabled Participatory Budgeting Platform

Omar

Weerakkody

Sivarajah

2017

Electronic Participation

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Enabling Multichannel Participation through ICT Adaptations for Participatory Budgeting ICT-enabled platform" (EMPATIA) is a multi-channel participatory budgeting (PB) platform that represents a significant social innovation process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, involving citizens within complex public-institution structures. EMPATIA was targeted to deliver socioeconomic and political benefits, such as enhancing citizengovernment engagement, increasing public value through PB process, promoting 'inclusiveness' among the marginalized groups of citizens, and impeding political discontent that underpins distrust and skepticism towards the government. The attainment of these benefits will be driven by the EMPATIA's performance. Hence, a performance measurement tools is needed to enable assessment of EMPATIA, empirically. With an aim to propose an integrated performance evaluation metrics, this study presents a set of assessment criteria for multi-channel digitally enabled PB service platforms-especially EMPATIA. Findings from a qualitative, multi-strategies research approach suggest that the metrics should include five key technical and non-technical performance indicators, to be used as basis for the development of future evaluation instruments. Of major signposts, the metrics would inform key performance aspects to be considered during the PB platform development, and evaluated to indicate the PB platform performance.

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“…It is in these dimensions that the distinction between political alienation and related concepts such as political discontent or anti-politics becomes apparent (Jennings et al 2016;Stoker 2006;Hay 2007;Vines and Marsh 2017). While a wide array of negative perceptions of the political system is associated with 'anti-politics' or political discontent, they are usually focused on voters' assessments of their politicians.…”

Section: Defining and Measuring Political Alienationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While a wide array of negative perceptions of the political system is associated with 'anti-politics' or political discontent, they are usually focused on voters' assessments of their politicians. Jennings et al (2016), for example, outline five dimensions of political discontent, focussed on citizens beliefs about politicians' lack of technical skill to deliver desirable outcomes; lack of courage to pursue radical objectives; focus on short-term victories and 'the median voter' or on 'big business' and opinion formers; and weakness in the face of globalisation and 'big money'. While these could clearly inform an individual's political trust or efficacy, they do not cover ways in which respondents' could be alienated from other elements of the political system besides the political elite, such as the electoral system, the party system or even the idea of a democratic society.…”

Section: Defining and Measuring Political Alienationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political alienation and referendums: how political alienation was related to support for Brexit

Fox

2020

Br Polit

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A common interpretation of the UK's Brexit vote is that it was an expression of antiestablishment sentiment, outrage and dismay from a politically alienated majority. This line of thinking suggests Brexit, like the electoral appeal of Donald Trump and parties such as the Five Star Movement, is but the latest manifestation of a growing disconnect between Western citizens and their democratic institutions. The direct role of political alienation in building support for such anti-establishment causes has, however, barely been examined. This study addresses this gap and uses previous literature on political alienation to build a model to test the claim that Brexit was (at least in part) driven by political alienation in UK citizens. The analyses show that while political alienation did have a substantial effect in making some citizens more likely to support Brexit-specifically those who lacked trust in the integrity of the political elite and felt that the political system was unresponsive-its impact overall was limited. Moreover, claims that Brexit was driven by political alienation understate how alienated from politics most people who were opposed to it also feel.

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The Dimensions and Impact of Political Discontent in Britain

Cited by 34 publications

References 18 publications

The Decline in Diffuse Support for National Politics

The Decline in Diffuse Support for National Politics

Developing Criteria for Evaluating a Multi-channel Digitally Enabled Participatory Budgeting Platform

Political alienation and referendums: how political alienation was related to support for Brexit

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