Why We Hate Politics PDF
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Why We Hate Politics For Ailsa and Ian Why We Hate Politics COLIN HAY polity Copyright © Colin Hay 2007 The right of Colin Hay to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2007 by Polity Press Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK Polity Press 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02148, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-5742-4 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website www.polity.co.uk Contents List of Figures and Tables Preface and Acknowledgements 1 Political Disenchantment 2 Politics, Participation and Politicization 3 The Domestic Sources of Depoliticization 4 The Global Sources of Depoliticization 5 Why Do We Hate Politics? Notes References Index Figures and Tables Figures 1.1 Trends in electoral turnout, OECD average and selected countries 1.2 Average British voter turnout by age cohort and year, 1964–97 1.3 Electoral participation and duration of voter eligibility, UK 1997 1.4 Decline in turnout and party membership, OECD countries 1.5 Levels of trust in politicians and government in the US, 1958– 2004 1.6 Do politicians care? Comparative attitudinal trends 2.1 Mapping the political realm 2.2 Politicization(s) and depoliticization(s) 3.1 The rationale for central bank independence 4.1 Rate of growth of world exports and production, 1995–2003 4.2 Growth in world merchandise trade, 1948–2003, in billions of US dollars 4.3 Ratio of merchandise trade to GDP at current prices 4.4 The triad’s share of inward and outward FDI stock, 1980–2003 4.5 Intra-regional trade as a proportion of total trade, selected regions and regional trade areas 4.6 State expenditure as a share of GDP, per cent selected OECD countries 4.7 Economic openness and state spending, OECD member state averages, 2000–3 4.8 Inbound foreign direct investment and state revenue, OECD member state average, 2000–3 Tables 1.1 Decline in electoral turnout, 1945–2005, selected OECD countries 1.2 Trends in political participation in the US and the UK 1.3 Arenas of political participation and nonparticipation 1.4 Satisfaction with democracy 1.5 Trends in the evaluation of democracy 1.6 Trust in public institutions in the US and the EU, 2004 1.7 Changing UK public trust in the professions, 1983–2005 1.8 Primary interests served by MPs 1.9 US perceptions of the interests that government serves 38 1.10 US perceptions of wastage of taxpayers’ money by government 1.11 Potential demand-side and supply-side factors responsible for declining political participation 2.1 Politics as context, politics as conduct – narrow and inclusive definitions 2.2 Forms of political participation 2.3 Political and nonpolitical participation and nonparticipation 3.1 Rationalizing neoliberalism Preface and Acknowledgements This book has taken rather longer to write than I had hoped, just like the last one, and the one before that … and, almost certainly, the one before that (I forget). When the idea for this book, or at least a book somewhat like this, was first put to me by Louise Knight, I was about to begin a three-year tenure as Head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) at the University of Birmingham. I accepted enthusiastically the offer to submit a proposal, both because I was excited about the prospect of sorting out in my own mind the nature of the contemporary condition of political disaffection and disengagement and because this was the kind of book that I could imagine writing as Head of Department. That was to prove a forlorn hope. It has been far more difficult and more challenging intellectually to sort out my previously rather disparate thoughts on the issues addressed in this volume than I had thought likely. And the process has taken me in some genuinely new directions. It also became clear, rather early on, that I was profoundly naïve to think that I was going to write anything very much as Head of Department. But the book is probably better for its rather lengthy gestation. It is certainly the case that when I eventually sat down to consign my thoughts to paper at the start of my period of sabbatical in the Department of Government at the University of Manchester, I was far clearer about what I was seeking to do. The months that have followed have proved unusually cathartic. As this perhaps already implies, I have, as usual, amassed a great variety of debts, both personal and intellectual, in writing this book. I must first thank my colleagues in POLSIS. It is not their fault that I failed to write this book whilst acting as their Head of Department – indeed, they have contributed greatly to making that a far less legitimate excuse for my inability to meet my publisher’s deadlines than it would normally be in British higher education today. I must also thank my friends, new and old, in the Department of Government at the University of Manchester, who have accommodated my sabbatical but who have, by virtue of this book, seen rather less of me than they might have expected. Now that it is completed, I hope to rectify that and to repay as best I can their generosity. An innumerable array of friends and colleagues have
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