What is the role of political parties in the 21st century?
Answers
When Compass first began this piece of research, it was just after the UK general election 2015 – broadly understood as a debacle for the Left. We had noted how, at crucial points in the campaign, when we needed some helpful analysis or inspiration from Labour central office, the only emails we received were selling us cheeky tea towels.
Today, in the light of two globally impactful political events – Brexit and the US elections – I’ve just received another offer: a limited edition calendar, called Labour Through the Ages. And nothing else.
Who, we wondered, do the Labour party think their members are? Following this question through has led us to other useful discoveries. For example, did you know that only 2% of the British electorate is a member of a political party? That includes the Tories, UKIP, SNP, Greens and Lib Dems.
Of course, that doesn’t mean only 2% is politically active or interested. But it does mean that 98% of “the people” don’t think it’s worth joining up, and putting regular time (with a bit of money) behind any organisation that has a chance of leading or shaping government today.
And yet, single issue initiatives, broad movements, and interest groups of all kinds are clearly on the rise. Whether we are talking about the massive volume of political exchange on Facebook (1.57 billion active users), the plethora of petition sites (Avaaz has 45 million members) or the more engaged projects like the New Economics Organisers Network (NEON) (1,000 very active members), apathy does not seem to be the problem. So what is?
In this paper, Is The Party Over?, I use four analytical “lenses” to identify forms of party political practice – from the traditional to new (and sometimes experimental) forms.
Leadership: from authoritarian to post-egoic,
Structure: from cartel parties to fractal, movement-driven ones
User experience: from member as servant to member as transformer
Culture: from ideological purism to values-based pluralism
There is plenty of inspiration available – though we borrow from a lot of European initiatives to find it.
So it is just a matter of party-political reform? Meaning that if the existing parties just got better, would that add up to more engagement and better democracy, leading us inexorably to the the Good Society? My conclusion is that it’s unlikely.
Both Brexit and the US election have shifted the political debate significantly, forcing us to ask bigger questions about dominant political narratives. In particular: who are “the people”? And how do we stand up for them?
For example, in Brexit, how did the Leave campaign manage to create a new political constituency out of those who are anti-globalisation and looking for more control over their lives? Surely that should be the Left’s domain?
In the US, why did many women vote for a misogynist – and why did many of the disadvantaged vote against Obamacare? When it’s the so-called “right” who is championing direct democracy and self-rule against overbearing state or corporate power, what does “progressive” mean anymore?
Can we continue to organise our politics along dualistic lines – Left versus Right, Democrats v Republicans – when the boundaries between them have been so clearly transgressed? Where can we go when progressive parties are locked in battle with each other and even within themselves, as Labour is?
Compass’ decision to campaign for a Progressive Alliance addresses some of those issues. It asks competing parties on the Left to come together in the interests of bringing in a new voting system, based on proportional representation. PR would generate a more pluralist politics, reflecting more accurately the will and preferences of the public. But it is an uphill struggle. As long as most of them still retain the dream of being able to win an outright majority of seats in a UK general election, only a handful of Labour MPs are – and will be – in favour of PR.