implement policy. But this can be shaped by ‘micro’-level policy
decisions made by individual politicians (in weak party systems) or
political parties (in strong party systems). These political actors
develop and present the suite of policies they believe will be
electorally successful.
The ‘micro’ policy process is not just about the end result of
producing the policies, but also the process itself and what that says
about the political organisation. After four successive election defeats
(1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992) the Labour Party in the mid-1990s felt it
had to change both how it decided party policy as well as the actual
policies themselves. Under Tony Blair’s guidance the Labour Party
streamlined the policy process by significantly reducing the number
of people who were consulted in the process. At the same time Labour
made use of political marketing techniques such as focus groups
(Wring, 2007) to obtain feedback from voters.
The effect of these changes was to strengthen the position of the
Labour Party leadership on policy making. Once elected Tony Blair’s
government was adjudged to have continued this centralised
approach.
A crisis in democratic politics?
Civic engagement is where citizens participate in civil society, such as
being a trade union member, organising a youth group or belonging
to a charity. Together such disparate activities comprise social capital
in terms of the overall well-being of society and so act as a social
bond (Norris and Curtice, 2004). Putnam (2000) suggests that civic
engagement is the invisible cement which brings together different
communities within one overall social infrastructure. Although civic
activity may be non-political, it does imply an interest in public
affairs, the very basis upon which politics is founded.
The widely accepted view amongst sociologists and political
scientists is that over the past thirty years there has been a general
decline in civic engagement in liberal democracies (Norris and
Curtice, 2004). It is suggested that this decline has been especially
acute amongst younger people and the better educated (Putnam,
2000). One clear manifestation of this, it is argued, has been a general
fall in voting turnout in many Western countries. It is suggested that
this decline represents either a political apathy towards liberal
democracy or a sense of alienation, especially amongst young people.
POLICIES 237