Comparative analysis of political participation Essay Example for Free

comparative degree analysis of semi policy-making date EssayThe change in policy-making participation is currently a hotly discussed topic. Low turnouts in the 2001 and 2005 UK general elections, along with falling fragmentship of political parties have led political organisations to discoer the reasons for this (BBC, 2006). unmatched method is to use comparative analysis. This is about comparing aspects of countries political systems (Dobson, 2005, p.140) to try to understand why a phenomenon occurs in one country or time period further not in new(prenominal). This set about looks at two factors, which evidence suggests affect political participation sexuality and socio-economic standing. It examines whether comparative analysis is a useful tool for studying this topic. It concludes that whilst comparative politics is helpful at identifying participation trends, it is too simple to provide practical answers and that further studies ar required to reveal useful outc omes.Historically, conventional ways for citizens to move into in politics were by voting in elections and essenceing a political party. The decline in these activities has led some to believe on that point is political apathy in Britain. How perpetually Helena Kennedy (cited by White, 2006, p.4), chair of the Commission which produced the Power to the People report (2006) denies this, saying that despite no longer wanting to join a party or get involved in formal politics, people instead get rid of direct action by raising money for charities, joining protest marches, signing petitions and undertaking volunteering written report within their communities. The possibility for differing definitions of key outcomes is a dis payoff for comparative analysis.A study that defines participation in terms much(prenominal)(prenominal) as voting or contacting politicians will conclude that political participation has decrease and supports the political apathy hypothesis, whereas, a stu dy such as the Citizen Audit (2001), using unorthodox definitions, such as membership of political organisations (anything from trade unions to community groups) or financially supporting activist organisations, go back that participation is still strong. The Citizen Audit found that approximately 40 per cent of adults belong to at to the lowest degree one political organisation (Smith, 2005, p.83)and there is little evidence of widespread apathy (Smith, 2005, p.84). When trying to progress to policies to increase political participation, these conflicting results are unhelpful.Following a 2002 European Union directive, which required member states to promote equality in relation to sexual orientation, age and religion in addition to race, gender and disability (Squires, 2005, p.119), European governments began to initiate changes to the way women were represented within parliament. Governments did not necessarily choose the alike initiatives and comparative analysis is useful t o identify quickly the comparative success of each governments initiatives. (See table 1, Appendix).Political systems are hugely complex and as Dobson states Each day near of us find ourselves describing, explaining and predicting something. Comparative politics is no more, then, than carrying out these apparently basic human activities in the context of what we are calling political worlds (Dobson, 2005, p.143). Comparing what happens in variant countries or different political systems enables the analysis of differences and similarities and thereby, identifying factors that can be applied generally to simplify complex systems. For example circumvent 1 shows that Nordic countries have significantly higher levels of female participation in comparing to the UK.A insurance trainr, looking to increase participation by UK women, can then look at why there is such a large disparity between the two countries and whether there is something the UK could learn from Nordic policy. This illustrates another advantage of comparative study it pass arounds opportunity to expand ones intimacy of political worlds. For comparison there must be at least two things to compare which must be obviously different. In political comparison, this is often two different countries and even if one is ones witness, the other will not be and if we assume that knowledge of others is a prerequisite for finding our way around, and managing, a globalizing world, then comparative politics seems to be of increasing practical importance (Dobson, 2005, p.143).Expanding ones knowledge is generally auspicious and simplifying complexinformation is usually advantageous although over step-down is a attempt. Table 2 shows the very(prenominal) information as table 1 but for the elections that were held closest to the time of the aforementioned(prenominal) EU directive. Figure 1 shows the percentage point difference between both elections. Using this information, that same policy directr may feel that focussing on Frances policies would be of much greater value than that of the Nordic countries as, in only 10 years, France has almost doubled the amount of women who hold parliamentary seats.Comparing and ranking countries can be useful but, as illustrated here, it is only part of a figment and great care must be taken when interpreting comparative selective information. Oversimplification is a translucent risk of comparative analysis. It is possible to mitigate the risk by undertaking more study, producing more data and a more sophisticated and detailed analysis to guide forecasting or policy change. It is primal that one considers this potential issue when working with conclusions drawn from comparative analysis.In 2005 the Electoral Commission produced a research report, Social Exclusion and Political Engagement. Its aim was to explore why those experiencing societal disadvantage head for the hills to also be the most politically excluded in society. (Electoral C ommission, 2005) Looking at the aim of this report highlights an advantage of using comparative politics but also a disadvantage. The advantage is that it allows testing of hypotheses in this case, those who do it social disadvantage are more likely to be politically excluded. By comparing different circumstances, one can find out what factors affect the political situation in a country, better-looking an idea as to what particular social/financial or other conditions might give bob up to say, reform or revolution in the future. The possibility to predict outcomes is especially important for politicians the possibility of lettered that under certain social conditions, policy X will produce outcome Y (Dobson, 2005, p.144) allows them to bring about informed policy decisions.The disadvantage is that in research, subjectivity and objectivity can sometimes be lost. Baxter, (cited by Dobson, 2005, p.146) points out Research is not a wholly objective activity carried out by gratui tous scientists. It is a social activity powerfully affected by the researchersown motivations and values. In this case, the researcher(s) has(ve) already taken on the axiom that those with social disadvantages are politically excluded. This does not necessarily close that conclusions drawn by social scientists are useless it just means that it is important that anyone working with these conclusions is sensible that they might be contaminated by their comparative scientists own motivations and values (Dobson, 2005, p.154).The report drew together much information on the subject and found that the working class (C2DEs) were 21 percentage points less likely to vote than the middle class (ABC1), 60% to 41%. It also found ABC1s twice as likely as C2DEs to take advantage of the opportunity to contact their elected representatives two-thirds of those who present their views to their councillors or MPs are ABC1s Political activism is higher among ABC1s than C2DEs (23% as compared to 7%). Across a range of different activities which could still be defined as political, there is a correlation with class and income those in the lowest social class, the poorest in society and the less educated were less likely to be politically active than those who are in a higher social class (Electoral Commission, 2005, p.9).This gives a lot of interesting information and seems to make it clear that there is a correlation between social class and political participation but then it could be argued that it does not really say anything useful. It illustrates a difference but it does not give any reason for this difference. It does not give any principles that one could draw from the comparisons to enable one to make wider or more generalised conclusions about what would lessen the gap. Anyone using the data runs the risk of putting their own interpretation on the results, as stated by Lewis (cited in Dobson, 2005, p.157) the development of the comparatives tools seems to involve the i nterpretation of political reality rather than its simple and problem-free observation. The other difficulty with this is that people interpret things in different ways and one persons interpretation of these results might not be anothers. This runs the risk of further confusion rather than clarifying issues.To conclude, Dobson asks Whether, despite their peculiarities, we can buildtheories for comparing political worlds that will enable us to offer general truths about them. Or are we only ever able to tell stories about them stories rich in specific detail but devoid of generalizable truths? (Dobson, 2005, p.140). Comparative analysis is a key tool in identifying trends in participation. It also allows for the testing of hypothesis and for simplification of complicated data, with the possibility of expanding ones knowledge all notable advantages. However, the disadvantages of contamination and misinterpretation along with the possibility for over simplification reveal crucial lim itations, meaning that comparative analysis offers little in the way of determinate predictions about or practical answers which could influence political participation.ReferencesBBC, 2006. Political system faces meltdown. BBC UK Politics. Available at http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4753876.stm Accessed 3 December, 2014.Electoral Commission, 2005. Available at http//www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/63835/Social-exclusion-and-political-engagement.pdf Accessed 4 December, 2014.Dobson, A., Story telling and theory building comparing political worlds. In Lewis, P ed. 2005. Exploring Political Worlds. Milton Keynes, The Open UniversitySmith, M., Taking part in politics. In Lewis, P ed. 2005. Exploring Political Worlds. Milton Keynes, The Open UniversitySquires, J., Common citizenship and plural identities the politics of social difference. In Lewis, P ed. 2005. Exploring Political Worlds. Milton Keynes, The Open UniversityWhite, I., Power Inquiry, 2006. Power to the People the report of Power, an Independent Inquiry into Britains Democracy. third estate program library Standard Note, Power to the People the report of Power, an Independent Inquiry into Britains Democracy. Commons Library Standard Note. Available at http//www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN03948/power-to-the-people-the-report-of-power-an-independent-inquiry-into-britains-democracy Accessed 3 December, 2014.Whiteley, P.F., Pattie, C. and Seyd, P., Citizen Audit of Great Britain, 2000-2001 computer file. Colchester, Essex UK Data Archive distributor, March 2005. SN 5099, http//dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5099-1