Defending Politics
Why Democracy Matters in the 21st Century
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6312968 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew S Crines (0000-0002-6878-5030, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 638-641 |
| Publication date | 2015-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Parliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pa/gsu002 |
| OpenAlex | W2026917942 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Written in a bygone age of greater political deference, Bernard Crick's classic volume In Defence of Politics sought to show that cynicism about politics and politicians can be harmful to the democratic process. Cynicism, so the thesis went, reduces public engagement and interest which can and does lead to reduced voter turnouts. The growth of television programmes like The Brain's Trust subjected politicians to a new form of direct and confrontational scrutiny which had rarely been available to the electorate. By doing so, the nature of politics began to change, from deference to suspicion. Published in the latter years of a tired Conservative government, In Defence of Politics thus sought to reaffirm politicians as public servants who were hard working and free of excessive corruption. Today the image of politics and politicians is under even greater scrutiny and challenge. It is not just one party looking tired but rather the totality of the democratic process, as cynicism and indifference continues to contribute to even lower interest in politics by the. It is not just the quantifiable number of voters that has gone down, rather the image of politics and politicians has been tainted. Such negativity tends to paint politicians with corruptible characteristics. This is exemplified through modern satire such as The Thick of It, which purports to show how politics can erode the values of participants. Resultantly, we have a situation where, as the 2011 Radio 4 series In Defence of Politics (hosted by Matthew Flinders, author of the differently titled Defending Politics) revealed, when members of the public were asked to say what politicians mean to them their responses were highly negative—describing them as ‘rubbish’, ‘useless’, ‘crooked’ and simply ‘garbage’—demonstrating the prevailing view of politicians. This is the kind of issue Flinders has continued to examine with his subsequent 2013 Radio 4 series When Comedy and Politics Collide
Cynicism · Deference · Democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Politics of the United States · Scrutiny · Sociology · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,3 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2022 (7) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |