A workshop organized by the Anti-Politics Specialist Group of the UK Political Science Association and hosted in LSE’s Media and Communications Department brought together an inter-disciplinary group of scholars to discuss two key questions: why are people so angry with politics, and what can be done about it? Here Gergana Dimova, convener of the Anti-Politics Specialist Group and Lecturer at the University of Winchester, and Eva Połońska-Kimunguyi, a Research Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, analyse and explain the themes of the workshop.
Understanding “anti-politics” is perhaps more important now than ever before. After all, if people distrust politicians, how are they to follow their orders and observe quarantine for weeks on end?
How angry are people, exactly?
Not all public anger is created equal and not all anger directed at the government is insidious. At the workshop, Gerry Stoker (University of Southampton) pointed out that that it is important to distinguish between healthy cynicism that is well placed, when the government is acting in a malevolent manner, and erosive trust, which a priori negates all potential achievements of the government. The TrustGov project will collect data comparing empirical patterns of trust in political institutions across the world. One of the key puzzles that the project will resolve is this: how do we operationalise and measure various types of mistrust?
Why are people so angry, really?
By now, the sources of public grievances are well known: people are angry at the immigrants for taking their jobs away and unsettling their customs; people are angry at the selfish politicians; people are angry at supranational structures for eroding their country’s sovereignty.
The aim of the Anti-Politics workshop was to add new conceptualizations of the drivers of anti-politics, which may have been hitherto neglected. Its primary goal was to build an inter- disciplinary understanding of anti-politics and to seek interdisciplinary solutions, based on scholarly expertise from the fields of media studies, politics, economics and sociology.
The message from media studies is not a rosy one: the ‘mediatization’ of political communication, or media-driven democracy, is here to stay. Monica Horten (LSE) suggested that politicians use the media to make distorted statements, which subversively push people to make choices that do not benefit them in the long run. The crisis in public information, dis-information and mis-information, waning trust in media, journalism and platfrom credibility as well as on-line political communication are some of the themes that LSE’s Media and Communication Department has been working for a while.
But then again, it has been noted before that politics based on lies is by no means new. Niccolò Machiavelli taught us some 500 years ago that interpersonal manipulation, callousnesss and indifference to morality are keys to success in the world of politics and political communication. Politics, he wrote in ’The Prince,’ requires ’inhuman cruelty’ which he refered to as a virtue. In a similar vein, in her essay on ’Lying in Politics’ written in 1971, Hanna Arendt reflected on the various ’aspects of deception, self-deception, image-making, ideologizing, and defactualization’. She made a connection between the mediatized public relations and the deterioration of politics. Both could now be blamed for forging the post-truth reality and for alienating consumers of news media and voters.
Hence, truth and politics have formed a symbiotic relationship over the centuries. With the advent of technology and modern media industries, the use of spin, lies, falsehoods and semi-truths in the public domain has only been exacerbated, not produced anew.
From an economics perspective, people may be angry at the neoliberal mode of capital accumulation (David Bailey, University of Birmingham). Just-in-time production and run-away capitalism that relocate production to far-away places, impact the size and strength of domestic labor force, and diminish workers’ capacity to form trade unions and challenge national governments about the terms of industrial policy. The growing influence of trans-national business on national politics shifts power away from voters to markets, to large corporations that have outgrown the governance capacity of individual nation states.
Alternatively, anger could arise because the disproportionate structural and instrumental power of the financial sector puts democratic processes and fair public provision at stake (Ewa Karwowski and Bruno Bonizzi, the University of Hertfordshire). Hyper-financial mobility strengthens the structural power of capital over labour and the state. The ‘electronic herd’ makes instant decisions that cannot be matched by the much slower democratic political decision-making structures. Global financial markets are naturally volatile and precipitate economic and political instability. On the other hand, “technocratic” decisions are often channelled through financial markets, which thus acquire infrastructural power. By strengthening the power of financial markets over the state and of business over workers, globalization undermines the mutually beneficial tension between capitalism and democracy. Hence, the overall impact of the ‘golden straight-jacket’ of globalization is, as Tom Friedman wrote in The Lexus and the Olive Tree, ‘when you put it on, your economy grows, and your politics shrinks.’ Democracies cease to represent those for whose benefit they were created in the first place: voters and their interests.
Changes in the media and economics lead to changes in politics. Perhaps it is the style of governance – in particular, the propensity of public officials to depoliticise decision-making – that helps account for public disaffection with politics (Jim Buller, University of York). In addition, there has been a weakening of the political importance of ordinary working people, a trend that has signalled a transition towards a post-democratic society. Occupations that generated the labour organizations that once powered the rise of popular political demands have now declined. The outcome is an economically impoverished and politically passive population that has not generated organizations to articulate its demands. Therefore, ‘the people’ are increasingly unwilling and unable to participate in politics.
Politics thrives when there are major opportunities for ordinary people to actively participate in shaping public life. Democratic equality requires certain socio-economic equalities to allow citizens to affect political outcomes. As Thomas Piketty argues, ‘extreme inequality is just not useful, it’s not useful for growth, and it’s bad for democracy.’
The social aspects of the recent economic and political changes are also important. Cheap migrant labour affects mostly the poorest populations in the host countries. Migration threatens national culture and identity. It increases inequality and creates a new class of state-less and citizenship-less people. It promotes cultural and xenophobic backlashes, changing values and attitudes in the mass electorate in host countries that challenge liberal norms and liberal politics and make room for authoritarian governments.
As Sean Hanley (UCL) noted, understanding anti-politics reminds him of the parable of the blind men who were feeling the elephant from different sides. Similarly, the workshop demonstrated that scholars of different disciplines are exploring the phenomenon of public anger from different angles. By amalgamating these disparate perspectives from various disciplinary perspectives, including media, politics, economics and sociology, the workshop participants concluded that the anti-politics research is facing the serious challenge of gauging the relative explanatory power of these explanations.
What is the best fix for anti-politics?
The good news that there is a wealth of fixes for anti-politics, as the workshop participants demonstrated. For instance, Daniele Albertazzi’s ESRC project “The survival of the mass party: Evaluating activism and participation among populist radical right parties (PRRPs) in Europe” is exploring how PRRPs, far from being one-person machines, can often invest in large scale grass roots organizations. One take away from this project is that mainstream parties should reconsider the value and merit of activism and presence on the ground as a way to re-engage citizens.
Other solutions for anti-politics include even more fundamental changes. One such fix, proposed by Frank Vibert’s book Making a 21st Century Constitution: Playing Fair in Modern Democracies, is to rewrite the constitution. To battle anti-politics, the new constitution should place a new focus on inter-generational differences and representation and provide a larger place for methods of direct participation alongside representation.
Another remedy, developed by the Horizon 2020 REDEM project presented by Elise Roumeas (Sciences Po), is to re-engage citizens with elections. This innovative approach examines the ethical dilemmas faced by voters in different electoral systems. It is by taking seriously the ethics of voting, and specifically the morally painful choices that citizens face in elections, that new ways of engaging citizens with elections can be identified and developed. Gergana Dimova’s book Democracy beyond elections: Government Accountability in the Media Age argues that the best way to bring back people’s belief in politics is to ensure a thorough accountability process not only through elections, but also in between elections.
Finally, there is the view that the solution will come from the citizens, not the state. The process will play itself out naturally as disgruntled citizens take their grievances to the streets. Based on an original database of nearly 3000 protests in Britain for the period between 1985 and 2020, David Bailey will assess to what extent protests are effective in channeling grievances. The more effective they are, the less disillusioned citizens will presumably be.
We do not know yet which of these fixes will work. But it is certain that research on anti-politics is propelled by momentum, which stems from the dire societal problems it seeks to analyze. And we are more likely to uncover the cure if we work together across our disciplinary specialisms.
This article represents the views of the author and not the position of the Media@LSE blog, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called an election for Oct. 21, signalling the beginning of a 33-day campaign expected to focus on pocketbook issues and the government’s provocative approach to gender identity policies.
The 70-year-old Progressive Conservative leader, who is seeking a third term in office, has attracted national attention by requiring teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred names and pronouns of young students.
More recently, however, the former Irving Oil executive has tried to win over inflation-weary voters by promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent if re-elected.
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens had three and there was one Independent and four vacancies.
J.P. Lewis, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, said the top three issues facing New Brunswickers are affordability, health care and education.
“Across many jurisdictions, affordability is the top concern — cost of living, housing prices, things like that,” he said.
Richard Saillant, an economist and former vice-president of Université de Moncton, said the Tories’ pledge to lower the HST represents a costly promise.
“I don’t think there’s that much room for that,” he said. “I’m not entirely clear that they can do so without producing a greater deficit.” Saillant also pointed to mounting pressures to invest more in health care, education and housing, all of which are facing increasing demands from a growing population.
Higgs’s main rivals are Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Party Leader David Coon. Both are focusing on economic and social issues.
Holt has promised to impose a rent cap and roll out a subsidized school food program. The Liberals also want to open at least 30 community health clinics over the next four years.
Coon has said a Green government would create an “electricity support program,” which would give families earning less than $70,000 annually about $25 per month to offset “unprecedented” rate increases.
Higgs first came to power in 2018, when the Tories formed the province’s first minority government in 100 years. In 2020, he called a snap election — the first province to go to the polls after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and won a majority.
Since then, several well-known cabinet ministers and caucus members have stepped down after clashing with Higgs, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on policies that represent a hard shift to the right side of the political spectrum.
Lewis said the Progressive Conservatives are in the “midst of reinvention.”
“It appears he’s shaping the party now, really in the mould of his world views,” Lewis said. “Even though (Progressive Conservatives) have been down in the polls, I still think that they’re very competitive.”
Meanwhile, the legislature remained divided along linguistic lines. The Tories dominate in English-speaking ridings in central and southern parts of the province, while the Liberals held most French-speaking ridings in the north.
The drama within the party began in October 2022 when the province’s outspoken education minister, Dominic Cardy, resigned from cabinet, saying he could no longer tolerate the premier’s leadership style. In his resignation letter, Cardy cited controversial plans to reform French-language education. The government eventually stepped back those plans.
A series of resignations followed last year when the Higgs government announced changes to Policy 713, which now requires students under 16 who are exploring their gender identity to get their parents’ consent before teachers can use their preferred first names or pronouns — a reversal of the previous practice.
When several Tory lawmakers voted with the opposition to call for an external review of the change, Higgs dropped dissenters from his cabinet. And a bid by some party members to trigger a leadership review went nowhere.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
FREDERICTON – A 33-day provincial election campaign is expected to officially get started today in New Brunswick.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has said he plans to visit Lt.-Gov. Brenda Murphy this morning to have the legislature dissolved.
Higgs, a 70-year-old former oil executive, is seeking a third term in office, having led the province since 2018.
The campaign ahead of the Oct. 21 vote is expected to focus on pocketbook issues, but the government’s provocative approach to gender identity issues could also be in the spotlight.
The Tory premier has already announced he will try to win over inflation-weary voters by promising to lower the harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent if re-elected.
Higgs’s main rivals are Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Party Leader David Coon, both of whom are focusing on economic and social issues.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
VICTORIA – If the lead up to British Columbia‘s provincial election campaign is any indication of what’s to come, voters should expect the unexpected.
It could be a wild ride to voting day on Oct. 19.
The Conservative Party of B.C. that didn’t elect a single member in the last election and gained less than two per cent of the popular vote is now leading the charge for centre-right, anti-NDP voters.
The official Opposition BC United, who as the former B.C. Liberals won four consecutive majorities from 2001 to 2013, raised a white flag and suspended its campaign last month, asking its members, incumbents and voters to support the B.C. Conservatives to prevent a vote split on the political right.
New Democrat Leader David Eby delivered a few political surprises of his own in the days leading up to Saturday’s official campaign start, signalling major shifts on the carbon tax and the issue of involuntary care in an attempt to curb the deadly opioid overdose crisis.
He said the NDP would drop the province’s long-standing carbon tax for consumers if the federal government eliminates its requirement to keep the levy in place, and pledged to introduce involuntary care of people battling mental health and addiction issues.
The B.C. Coroners Service reports more than 15,000 overdose deaths since the province declared an opioid overdose public health emergency in 2016.
Drug policy in B.C., especially decriminalization of possession of small amounts of hard drugs and drug use in public areas, could become key election issues this fall.
Eby, a former executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said Wednesday that criticism of the NDP’s involuntary care plan by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is “misinformed” and “misleading.”
“This isn’t about forcing people into a particular treatment,” he said at an unrelated news conference. “This is about making sure that their safety, as well as the safety of the broader community, is looked after.”
Eby said “simplistic arguments,” where one side says lock people up and the other says don’t lock anybody up don’t make sense.
“There are some people who should be in jail, who belong in jail to ensure community safety,” said Eby. “There are some people who need to be in intensive, secure mental health treatment facilities because that’s what they need in order to be safe, in order not to be exploited, in order not to be dead.”
The CCLA said in a statement Eby’s plan is not acceptable.
“There is no doubt that substance use is an alarming and pressing epidemic,” said Anais Bussières McNicoll, the association’s fundamental freedoms program director. “This scourge is causing significant suffering, particularly, among vulnerable and marginalized groups. That being said, detaining people without even assessing their capacity to make treatment decisions, and forcing them to undergo treatment against their will, is unconstitutional.”
While Eby, a noted human rights lawyer, could face political pressure from civil rights opponents to his involuntary care plans, his opponents on the right also face difficulties.
The BC United Party suspended its campaign last month in a pre-election move to prevent a vote split on the right, but that support may splinter as former jilted United members run as Independents.
Five incumbent BC United MLAs, Mike Bernier, Dan Davies, Tom Shypitka, Karin Kirkpatrick and Coralee Oakes are running as Independents and could become power brokers in the event of a minority government situation, while former BC United incumbents Ian Paton, Peter Milobar and Trevor Halford are running under the B.C. Conservative banner.
Davies, who represents the Fort St. John area riding of Peace River North, said he’s always been a Conservative-leaning politician but he has deep community roots and was urged by his supporters to run as an Independent after the Conservatives nominated their own candidate.
Davies said he may be open to talking with B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad after the election, if he wins or loses.
Green Leader Sonia Furstenau has suggested her party is an option for alienated BC United voters.
Rustad — who faced criticism from BC United Leader Kevin Falcon and Eby about the far-right and extremist views of some of his current and former candidates and advisers — said the party’s rise over the past months has been meteoric.
“It’s been almost 100 years since the Conservative Party in B.C. has won a government,” he said. “The last time was 1927. I look at this now and I think I have never seen this happen anywhere in the country before. This has been happening in just over a year. It just speaks volumes that people are just that eager and interested in change.”
Rustad, ejected from the former B.C. Liberals in August 2022 for publicly supporting a climate change skeptic, sat briefly as an Independent before being acclaimed the B.C. Conservative leader in March 2023.
Rustad, who said if elected he will fire B.C.’s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry over her vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, has removed the nominations of some of his candidates who were vaccine opponents.
“I am not interested in going after votes and trying to do things that I think might be popular,” he said.
Prof. David Black, a political communications specialist at Greater Victoria’s Royal Roads University, said the rise of Rustad’s Conservatives and the collapse of BC United is the political story of the year in B.C.
But it’s still too early to gauge the strength of the Conservative wave, he said.
“Many questions remain,” said Black. “Has the free enterprise coalition shifted sufficiently far enough to the right to find the social conservatism and culture-war populism of some parts of the B.C. Conservative platform agreeable? Is a party that had no infrastructure and minimal presence in what are now 93 ridings this election able to scale up and run a professional campaign across the province?”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
