This four-part mini-series follows on from 2020’s series on the constitution and independence, taking a more in-depth look at the political and democratic elements.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the views towards democracy and political engagement in Wales:
- In 2022, 11% of people were “active global citizens”, meaning they have done three or more actions to help with global issues (i.e. raising money, campaigning, volunteering, lifestyle changes)2.
- Only 30% of adults believe they “can influence decisions affecting their local area”3. This proportion has increased, but not by much, since 2012-13.
- Every single Senedd election has had a turnout of below 50%. In the 2022 local elections, there was a marked lower turnout amongst the under-35s, with turnout falling below 40% in the majority of the 22 local authorities. By contrast, turnout in UK general elections has often been between 60-70%.
- An IWA citizens’ panel concluded that the constant focus on election cycles and elections by politicians and the media is “unhelpful”. Also, information gaps existed in Wales meaning people felt they couldn’t make informed decisions about politics4.
- The Independent Constitutional Commission found that knowledge about what isn’t or isn’t devolved to Wales hasn’t changed much since 2013. People also felt “disconnected” from politics and politicians5.
That doesn’t make good reading, does it?
While Wales certainly has a functioning democracy, you can’t call it a healthy one; it’s dodged salad for a few decades and smokes 20-a-day.
The main takeaways are:
- The existence of an information deficit, particularly when it comes to politics within Wales (as opposed to the UK as a whole).
- People are disengaged from politics more generally.
- Elections, polls and personalities are considered the be-all and end-all of democracy and political reporting.
There’s no point going on about media coverage/democratic deficit again. You all know the story there.
Similarly, disengagement is a symptom, not a cause, of an unhealthy democracy – you can’t force people to be interested in something. However, it’s been used to argue in favour of compulsory voting (Part III) or making political education mandatory.
The overemphasis on elections comes back to the information problem. Politicos are obsessed with opinion polls and backroom “gossip”, but the actual day-to-day stuff – which isn’t particularly exciting, admittedly – doesn’t get that much attention in comparison. That’s despite it being (arguably) far more important. I’ve tried doing that myself, but largely failed outside of Bridgend.
Coverage of politics only ever seems to ramp up in the weeks and months before an election. There’s too much focus on the personalities involved rather than what a politician has actually done for the previous term.
The growth of non-party politics
If you only consider politics to be about political parties, elections and politicians, then you might place yourself firmly in the “politics/democracy is in crisis” camp. But is that true?
Non-party campaigning has always been a feature of Welsh politics. There’s the historic campaigning around the Welsh language, trade unionism and, more recently, Welsh independence (though for how long in the case of the latter is anyone’s guess).
The Senedd’s public petitions system has been one of the few big success stories in getting people involved in devolved politics.
Other obvious areas where non-party campaigning has been fairly effective in re-engaging people with politics are climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement and No Farmers No Food.
Even campaigning against the default 20mph limit has engaged people who probably don’t consider themselves as being active in politics when they are: they’re expressing an opinion on policy and are requesting a change – one of the things democracy is about. So in that regard, Wales is probably fairly healthy even if the party political and media coverage elements have slipped behind.
These non-party movements are often doing the same things as political parties. Though they’re focused on one issue or a series of related issues, so they’re not hamstrung in the same way elected representatives are. An elected representative has to balance many plates and the very nature of the role means they can’t concentrate on a few issues, meaning they can’t please everyone at the same time.
Non-party politics is more expressive/creative, less stage-managed (for the most part), their causes and decisions are often far easier to understand and they’re not over-analysed into oblivion by journalists and hangers-on.
Younger people in particular may be more passionate about a specific issue or cause than they are about party politics, elections and manifestos. Cambridge University research – which has monitored attitudes towards democracy within different age groups for decades – has concluded that so-called Millennials and Gen Z (roughly covering everyone between the ages of 18-45) are more disillusioned with democracy than older cohorts6.
However, that doesn’t translate to disengagement from politics. For better or for worse, the internet has made it far easier to organise with like-minded people and that’s borne out by research suggesting that up to 70% of Gen Z are “involved in a social or political cause”7.
2. Welsh Government (September 2022). “Wellbeing of Wales indicators: active global citizenship”. Available at: https://www.gov.wales/wellbeing-wales-national-indicators
3. Welsh Government (September 2022). “Wellbeing of Wales indicators: influence local decisions”. Available at: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiOTdhMTU3ZWItMTNiOC00MDhiLWE3ZTgtNTViZDAwMmIwNzIyIiwidCI6ImEyY2MzNmM1LTkyODAtNGFlNy04ODg3LWQwNmRhYjg5MjE2YiJ9
4. Institute of Welsh Affairs (June 2023). “Building Bridges: Wales’ democracy – now and for the future” (p7-8). Available at: https://www.iwa.wales/wp-content/media/IWA_Building-Bridges-FINAL.pdf
5. Welsh Government & Beaufort Research (August 2023). “Gathering public views on potential options for Wales’s constitutional future: Stage 1 deliberative qualitative research findings” (p10-13). Available at: https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2024-01/gathering-public-views-stage-1_0.pdf
6. Bennett Institute of Public Policy, Cambridge University (October 2020). “Youth and satisfaction with democracy”. Available at: https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Youth_and_Satisfaction_with_Democracy-lite.pdf
7. J Cooper, Edelman (December 20th 2021). “Unleashing the power of Gen Z”. Available at: https://www.edelman.com/insights/unleashing-power-gen-z
