Democracy / Introduction

Democracy

Critical consensus? Britain’s expectations and evaluations
of democracy

  • Surveys frequently show that the public think it’s important to live
    in a democracy and that democracy is the best form of government. But is there a consensus about what living in a democracy should involve? And do people think Britain’s political system delivers what they expect from a democracy?

    BSA31 DEM Intro

    Highlights

  •  

    The British public demands
    a lot of different things from democracy.

    The top three things people consider most important to democracy are: the courts treat everyone equally, national elections are free and fair and the government explains its decisions to voters.

    BSA31 DEM1

    Highlights

  •  

    There is widespread support for the idea that democracy should achieve certain outcomes for its citizens.

    58% of people think it is extremely important in any democracy that a government protects its citizens against poverty.

    BSA31 DEM2

    Highlights

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    A significant minority of people think that the current political system fails to deliver what they expect from democracy.

    A quarter of people are dissatisfied with how well the government explains its decisions to voters, believing this to be extremely important, but feeling that this does not happen in Britain.

    BSA31 DEM3

    Highlights

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    People have concerns about key democratic institutions such as the judiciary.

    Almost one in five people think that it is extremely important in a democracy for the courts to treat everyone equally but feel that this does not happen in Britain.

    BSA31 DEM4

    Highlights

Introduction 

British national identity is commonly seen, by politicians and the public alike, as being synonymous with democracy and democratic values. Echoing earlier speeches on Britishness made by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, in 2011 David Cameron addressed the need for Britain to develop a clear sense of shared national identity, and listed democracy and the rule of law as two of the key values that should be part of this shared identity.[1] As the National Identity chapter, by Zsolt Kiss and Alison Park, describes most people (85 per cent) think that having respect for Britain’s political institutions and laws is very or fairly important for being truly British. People are more likely to consider this as being important than having been born in Britain (74 per cent) and much more likely to consider it as being important than having British ancestry (51 per cent). 

But what do people actually mean when they refer to Britain as a democracy or say that it is important for its citizens to adhere to democratic values? To what extent do people have a shared vision of the essential features of a democratic system or agree on the extent to which these features are currently being realised in Britain?

Democracy _PQ_1

An appreciation of the public’s understanding and evaluations of democracy is important not only in order to understand British identity but also to ensure the continued health and vitality of the political system itself. Unless people care about democracy and are committed to democratic values, these values may come under strain, especially in times of war or in the face of economic, environmental or other pressures (Coggan, 2013). If people have high expectations of democracy but feel that the current system fails to live up to these expectations, the perceived ‘democratic deficit’ may undermine the legitimacy of the system and erode public support. Even in established democracies such as Britain continued dissatisfaction with how the process functions may alienate people from the political process, posing a threat to the representativeness of democracy as well as undermining the belief in democracy itself (Stoker, 2006; Birdwell et al., 2013). 

The European Social Survey provides a unique opportunity to understand more about what it is that the public understands by and wants from democracy.[2] Whereas previous research on public attitudes to democracy has largely been restricted to asking people about their commitment to or evaluations of democracy in general, the 2012/13 European Social Survey contains a substantial battery of questions which ask respondents for their attitudes towards specific aspects of the democratic system including its procedures, institutions and outcomes (Kriesi et al., 2012). 

In this chapter we use European Social Survey data to try to isolate exactly what it is about living in a democracy that people in Britain consider to be important. We examine the depth and breadth of their commitment to different aspects of democracy, and the extent to which there is consensus across different groups in society. The chapter also examines the extent to which people believe that the features they consider to be important in a democracy apply in Britain today, and thus whether or not there is a perceived ‘democratic deficit’ among the British public. Finally, we consider the potential consequences of any perceived deficit for future political engagement. Is it the case that dissatisfaction with democratic performance is leading people to become disillusioned with and disengage from politics? Or, as Pippa Norris has argued, is the democratic deficit part of a healthy democracy in which “critical citizens” continue to engage with and challenge the political system to improve (Norris, 1999; 2011)? 

Answers to these questions may point to key areas on which policy makers seeking to maintain confidence in British democracy and re-engage with a disillusioned electorate in the run up to the 2015 general election should focus their attention. They are also pertinent to current discussions about the future of British democracy including the debate surrounding Scottish independence and the future of Britain in Europe, both issues that will or are likely to be decided by referendum. 

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Notes
  1. Blair, T. (2000), speech on Britishness, London, Mar 28. Retrieved 27 March 2014, from www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,2763,184950,00.html. Brown, G. (2006), “The Future of Britishness”, speech presented to the Fabian Society’s New Year Conference, London, 14 January. Retrieved 27 March 2014, from www.fabians.org.uk. Cameron, D. (2011), speech on radicalization and Islamic extremism, speech presented at the Munich Security Conference, Munich, 5 February. Retrieved 27 March 2014, from www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=329.
  2. The European Social Survey provides nationally representative probability samples of all residents aged 15 and over in a number of European countries and covers a wide range of social and political topics. Six rounds of the survey have been carried out to date. Unlike the British Social Attitudes survey, the European Social Survey collects data for the whole of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. However, NI cases are excluded from the analysis presented here and the remaining respondents were asked to evaluate democracy in Britain. The data for this chapter are from Round 6 of the survey conducted in the UK between September 2012 and January 2013. European Social Survey Round 6: European Social Survey Round 6 Data (2012/13). Data file edition 1.2. Design weights were applied in all analyses. Post-stratification weights were not available at the time of analysis but have since been added to the data file (Edition 2.0). Further information about the survey can be found at: www.europeansocialsurvey.org.
  3. European Values Study (2011): European Values Study 2008: Integrated Dataset (European Values Study 2008). GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA4800 Data file Version 3.0.0, doi:10.4232/1.11004.
  4. European Social Survey Round 6 data were available for 24 countries. A second data release in May 2014 included data from further countries. 
  5. The full question wording was: 
    Now some questions about democracy. Later on I will ask you about how democracy is working in Britain. First, however, I want you to think instead about how important you think different things are for democracy in general. There are no right or wrong answers so please just tell me what you think
  6. The four groupings are informed by theory and have been shown to work well empirically, producing high Cronbach’s alpha scores. Electoral dimension α = 0.80. Liberal dimension α = 0.82. Social dimension α = 0.74. Participatory dimension α = 0.71.
  7. Bases for Table 1.2 are as follows:
    Democracy _T_Notes _7 (1)

  8. Mean scores are based on the average response given by all those expressing an opinion. There is obviously a question regarding how reasonable it is to expect people to have thought about and formed meaningful opinions about all of the specific aspects of democracy asked about in the European Social Survey questionnaire. However, although around 5 per cent of respondents did answer “don’t know”, the vast majority of respondents were able to give an answer European Social Survey data showed. 
    Democracy _T_Notes _8

  9. Respondents with no educational qualifications are also less likely to hold an opinion about the requirements of democracy – with levels of “don’t knows” ranging from 9 per cent to 15 per cent across items – as are young people under 25 (7 per cent to 14 per cent “don’t knows”).

  10. Whether people would actually participate in a referendum is another matter. Support for direct democracy in principle is not always matched by high turnout in practice. In the 2011 referendum regarding the electoral system used to elect MPs, for example, turnout was just 42 per cent nationally (www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/journalist/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-referendums/Complete-set-of-provisional-turn-out-figures-for-referendum-now-published). Turnout in the 2012 elections to elect local police commissioners was even lower.

  11. European Social Survey respondents are asked: 

    In politics people sometimes talk of “left” and “right”. Using this card, where would you place yourself on this scale, where 0 means the left and 10 means the right?

    Responses 0 to 4 on the scale are categorised as being on the political left, 5 is categorised as centrist (group not shown in analysis) and responses 6 to 10 are categorised as being on the political right. 

  12. The items were the same as in Table 1.2 with one exception. Respondents were not asked to evaluate whether “… the courts are able to stop the government acting beyond its authority” applies in Britain. This item is not therefore included in any subsequent analysis.

  13. The full question wording was:

    Now some questions about the same topics, but this time about how you think democracy is working in Britain today. Again, there are no right or wrong answers, so please just tell me what you think 

  14. Bases for Table 1.6 are as follows:
    Democracy _T_Notes _14

  15. Responses on the importance and evaluation scales were rescaled to be between 0 and 1 rather than 0 and 10. The democratic deficit measure for each item, y, was then calculated as follows: (Importance of y (0 to 1) – Evaluation of whether y applies in Britain (0 to 1)) x Importance (0–1).

  16. Bases for Table 1.7 are as follows:

    Democracy _T_Notes _16

  17. European Social Survey data collected in 2010/11 as part of a module of questions on Trust in Justice provide further insights on this topic (Jackson et al., 2010). As many as 50 per cent of people in the UK think that a poor person is more likely than a rich person to be found guilty of an identical crime they did not commit while 30 per cent of respondents feel that someone of a different race or ethnic group from the majority would be more likely to be found guilty. (European Social Survey Round 5 Data (2010). Data file edition 3.0.)

  18. The average deficit on the social democracy dimension was -0.35 among those placing themselves on the left of the political spectrum, -0.25 among those in the centre and -0.20 among those on the right. 

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  • Authors
  • Notes
    1. Blair, T. (2000), speech on Britishness, London, Mar 28. Retrieved 27 March 2014, from www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,2763,184950,00.html. Brown, G. (2006), “The Future of Britishness”, speech presented to the Fabian Society’s New Year Conference, London, 14 January. Retrieved 27 March 2014, from www.fabians.org.uk. Cameron, D. (2011), speech on radicalization and Islamic extremism, speech presented at the Munich Security Conference, Munich, 5 February. Retrieved 27 March 2014, from www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=329.
    2. The European Social Survey provides nationally representative probability samples of all residents aged 15 and over in a number of European countries and covers a wide range of social and political topics. Six rounds of the survey have been carried out to date. Unlike the British Social Attitudes survey, the European Social Survey collects data for the whole of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. However, NI cases are excluded from the analysis presented here and the remaining respondents were asked to evaluate democracy in Britain. The data for this chapter are from Round 6 of the survey conducted in the UK between September 2012 and January 2013. European Social Survey Round 6: European Social Survey Round 6 Data (2012/13). Data file edition 1.2. Design weights were applied in all analyses. Post-stratification weights were not available at the time of analysis but have since been added to the data file (Edition 2.0). Further information about the survey can be found at: www.europeansocialsurvey.org.
    3. European Values Study (2011): European Values Study 2008: Integrated Dataset (European Values Study 2008). GESIS Data Archive, Cologne. ZA4800 Data file Version 3.0.0, doi:10.4232/1.11004.
    4. European Social Survey Round 6 data were available for 24 countries. A second data release in May 2014 included data from further countries. 
    5. The full question wording was: 
      Now some questions about democracy. Later on I will ask you about how democracy is working in Britain. First, however, I want you to think instead about how important you think different things are for democracy in general. There are no right or wrong answers so please just tell me what you think
    6. The four groupings are informed by theory and have been shown to work well empirically, producing high Cronbach’s alpha scores. Electoral dimension α = 0.80. Liberal dimension α = 0.82. Social dimension α = 0.74. Participatory dimension α = 0.71.
    7. Bases for Table 1.2 are as follows:
      Democracy _T_Notes _7 (1)

    8. Mean scores are based on the average response given by all those expressing an opinion. There is obviously a question regarding how reasonable it is to expect people to have thought about and formed meaningful opinions about all of the specific aspects of democracy asked about in the European Social Survey questionnaire. However, although around 5 per cent of respondents did answer “don’t know”, the vast majority of respondents were able to give an answer European Social Survey data showed. 
      Democracy _T_Notes _8

    9. Respondents with no educational qualifications are also less likely to hold an opinion about the requirements of democracy – with levels of “don’t knows” ranging from 9 per cent to 15 per cent across items – as are young people under 25 (7 per cent to 14 per cent “don’t knows”).

    10. Whether people would actually participate in a referendum is another matter. Support for direct democracy in principle is not always matched by high turnout in practice. In the 2011 referendum regarding the electoral system used to elect MPs, for example, turnout was just 42 per cent nationally (www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/journalist/electoral-commission-media-centre/news-releases-referendums/Complete-set-of-provisional-turn-out-figures-for-referendum-now-published). Turnout in the 2012 elections to elect local police commissioners was even lower.

    11. European Social Survey respondents are asked: 

      In politics people sometimes talk of “left” and “right”. Using this card, where would you place yourself on this scale, where 0 means the left and 10 means the right?

      Responses 0 to 4 on the scale are categorised as being on the political left, 5 is categorised as centrist (group not shown in analysis) and responses 6 to 10 are categorised as being on the political right. 

    12. The items were the same as in Table 1.2 with one exception. Respondents were not asked to evaluate whether “… the courts are able to stop the government acting beyond its authority” applies in Britain. This item is not therefore included in any subsequent analysis.

    13. The full question wording was:

      Now some questions about the same topics, but this time about how you think democracy is working in Britain today. Again, there are no right or wrong answers, so please just tell me what you think 

    14. Bases for Table 1.6 are as follows:
      Democracy _T_Notes _14

    15. Responses on the importance and evaluation scales were rescaled to be between 0 and 1 rather than 0 and 10. The democratic deficit measure for each item, y, was then calculated as follows: (Importance of y (0 to 1) – Evaluation of whether y applies in Britain (0 to 1)) x Importance (0–1).

    16. Bases for Table 1.7 are as follows:

      Democracy _T_Notes _16

    17. European Social Survey data collected in 2010/11 as part of a module of questions on Trust in Justice provide further insights on this topic (Jackson et al., 2010). As many as 50 per cent of people in the UK think that a poor person is more likely than a rich person to be found guilty of an identical crime they did not commit while 30 per cent of respondents feel that someone of a different race or ethnic group from the majority would be more likely to be found guilty. (European Social Survey Round 5 Data (2010). Data file edition 3.0.)

    18. The average deficit on the social democracy dimension was -0.35 among those placing themselves on the left of the political spectrum, -0.25 among those in the centre and -0.20 among those on the right. 

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