Is Democracy Dead?

Democracy has been facing mounting challenges over the past few decades with voter turnout in decline since the 2000s and universal corruption undermining democratic values. Freedom House (a nonprofit organisation focused on the protection of democracy) declared in 2018 that democracy is ‘facing its most serious crisis in decades’. Loss of voters and corruption shows serious decay in democracy, which is meant to ensure a fair and representative government is chosen for its people.

Declining voter turnout is an almost universal phenomenon in all democracies. Within the UK, younger voters are often blamed for the plummeting numbers, but when barriers are being implemented at their expense, can you blame them? The 2022 Elections Act means that young people are less likely to have accepted forms of ID for polling (such as local travel cards which are only accepted for 60+) making it more difficult for them to cast their vote, and consequently young people are rarely considered in public policy. Couple this with the general disregard political figures often have towards young groups and its understandable why voter turnout within younger age categories is so poor. However, the trend in declining voter turnout is not exclusive to younger age groups, so why is this? Well, for many, voting seems like a waste of time. In large democracies it is easy to feel insignificant, and as if your vote won’t make a difference or change anything. The sense of distance between politics and the general public means often people feel poorly informed about political decisions they’re asked to vote on or simply do not care about politics at all, as they do not believe it affects their lives. These people often choose not to vote or are easily discouraged from voting by inconveniences such as bad weather as they already view the system as rigid and fixed. This means entire groups, and often the most vulnerable groups, do not vote and are not represented within the democratic system.

Beyond voter turnout, the corruption and sleaze of political figures within democracies are becoming more and more of an issue over the past few decades and are some of the biggest issues the public name when it comes to satisfaction with their governments. Within Britain specifically, over 58% say they ‘almost never trust politicians to tell the truth’ which demonstrates the way corruption decays the trust of government and governmental institutions. There has been a fair share of scandals within British politics that can explain the high percentage of distrust. Examples include: the 2009 expenses scandal, Partygate and many scandals of a sexual nature such as Matt Hancock‘s resignation over his affair in 2021. But what difference do these scandals make for democracy? Partygate and Matt Hancock’s affair during the covid lockdowns enormously damaged the reputation of the Conservative party as the public lost all trust in the integrity of the party. For many, especially essential workers, Partygate showed a level of disregard and disrespect for the hard times the rest of the public were experiencing as they worked hard throughout Covid, closely following regulations. Likewise the 2009 expenses scandal had spectacular effects on voting in the 2010 General Election as many decided to abstain to show their rejection of the corrupt MPs and their actions. Similarly, in the US there have been many scandals such as Trump’s impeachment and his incessant claim of voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election, which entirely undermined the public’s trust in the integrity of the election during this period. When a political leader is suggesting that the systems in place (such as balloting) are dishonest, naturally, people will abstain from voting which adds to the already problematic declining turnout. More importantly, however, it sends a very explicit and clear message to the public that the political system is not working and results in a loss of faith in politicians to complete their job to a high standard and to be truthful with the general public.

So what difference does all of this actually make to you? Well, the lack of democratic principles within many democracies is extremely concerning, with academics suggesting democracy has become “synonymous with corruption”. Corruption undermines the way democracy runs and can ultimately shape the results of many elections. The lack of honesty leads to feelings of betrayal within the electorate and the rejection of all political figures and leaders and they simply are not deemed trustworthy or able to follow through on promises. This is a fair conclusion for the electorate to draw but can be dangerous as individuals may turn to more radical parties or candidates in order to see some change in politics (for example, the emergence of Reform UK during a time of back to back unelected leaders in the UK).