Democratic Decline and Democratic Renewal : Political Change in Britain, Australia and New Zealand

The Story Of Liberal Democracy Over The Last Half Century Has Been A Triumphant One In Many Ways, With The Number Of Democracies Increasing From A Minority Of States To A Significant Majority. Yet Substantial Problems Afflict Democratic States, And While The Number Of Democratic Countries Has Expanded, Democratic Practice Has Contracted. This Book Introduces A Novel Framework For Evaluating The Rise And Decline Of Democratic Governance. Examining Three Mature Democratic Countries - Britain, Australia And New Zealand - The Authors Discuss Patterns Of Governance From The Emergence Of Mass Democracy At The Outset Of The Twentieth Century Through To Its Present Condition. The Shared Political Cultures And Institutional Arrangements Of The Three Countries Allow The Authors To Investigate Comparatively The Dynamics Of Political Evolution And The Possibilities For Systemic Developments And Institutional Change-- Machine Generated Contents Note: Part I. Introduction: 1. The Decline And Renewal Of Democratic Governance: A Theoretical Framework; Part Ii. Political Change In Britain: The Development Of A Strategy Gap: 2. The Mass Party System And State Strategic Capacity In Britain; 3. Neo-liberalism And The Decline Of State Strategic Capacity; 4. Why The Gap In Strategic Capacity Poses A Systemic Challenge; Part Iii. Political Change In Australia: The Development Of A Representation Gap: 5. Everyman Is King: Representation And Strategic Capacity In Australia's Mass Party Period; 6. Pluralised Society, Individualised Politics: The Gap Between Citizens And The Formal Political System; 7. Why A Representation Gap Poses A Systemic Challenge (and The Populist Alternative); Part Iv. Political Change In New Zealand: Voting Reform, Multi-party Politics And Minority Government: 8. Identities And Capabilities In The Mass Party Era In New Zealand; 9. Neo-liberalism, Social Change And Democracy; 10. Is Electoral Reform Sufficient?; Part V. Democratic Renewal: 11. Reconnecting Citizens To The Political System; 12. The Prospect For Democratic Renewal. Ian Marsh And Raymond Miller. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Democratic Decline and Democratic Renewal 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Tables 9 Preface 11 Part I: Introduction 13 1: The decline and renewal of democratic governance: a theoretical framework 15 Democratic governance 19 Identity 20 Accounts 21 Political institutions 23 Capabilities 25 Dynamics 25 ‘Thick’ and ‘thin’ democratic governance 27 The institutional framework summarised 30 Conjectures 32 Conjecture 1: in its mass party phase, the pattern of democratic governance approximated the ‘thick’ pole 32 Conjecture 2: the subsequent evolution of democratic politics has been in the direction of a ‘thin’ (minimalist or populist) pole 35 Conjecture 3: the cause of the shift from ‘thick’ to ‘thin’ forms of governance was a failure to adapt political institutions to changing citizen identities, which was masked by the ascendancy amongst political elites of the neo-liberal account of governance 37 Conjecture 4: the renewal of thick democratic governance requires enhanced strategic and representational capacities, which can no longer be provided by political parties but can, providing particular threshold conditions are satisfied, be provided by parliamentary committees 42 The structure of this study 48 Part II: Political change in Britain: the development of a strategy gap 51 2: The mass party system and state strategic capacity in Britain 53 Party organisations, agenda setting and the development of policy strategy 56 The Labour Party 57 The Conservatives 63 Influencing public opinion: organisational and interest mobilisation and ‘brand’ projection 68 The Labour Party 69 The Conservatives 73 Policy outcomes and the development of capabilities 77 Conclusion 80 3: Neo-liberalism and the decline of state strategic capacity 82 Neo-liberalism and the decline of party organisations 84 The Labour Party organisation 85 The Conservative Party organisation 90 Leaders and their publics 95 Neo-liberalism and public policy 98 Citizen political engagement 104 Conclusion 109 4: Why the gap in strategic capacity poses a systemic challenge 112 Revisiting strategic capacity 113 Organisational development 117 Personal staff support for the Prime Minister 118 Cabinet Office and departmental capabilities 118 Strategic capabilities and the chancellor 120 Assessment 121 The approach and positioning of the PMSU 122 Public sector reform 122 Individual enquiries 124 Strategy audits 125 Assessment 125 Engaging interests and building an appropriate parliamentary and public conversation 127 Strategic capacity and adversarial politics 131 Conclusion 134 Part III: Political change in Australia: the development of a representation gap 137 5: Everyman is king: representation and strategic capacity in Australia’s mass party period 139 National political consolidation, 1901–1945 143 Citizen identities and party mobilisation 144 Citizen capabilities and party policies 153 The mass party phase, 1944–1966 156 Organisational policy activity and representation 159 Policy outcomes: the development of citizen capabilities 161 Conclusion 163 6: Pluralised society, individualised politics: the gap between citizens and the formal political system 166 Pluralised identities: the impact of interest groups and social movements 168 Interest organisations 168 The new social movements 170 Catch-all parties 173 Neo-liberalism and Australian politics: the rise of the cartel party system 175 Neo-liberal doctrine 176 Individualising public policy: citizens as consumers 178 The ‘thinning’ of major party organisations and of the party system 182 Public disaffection 188 Conclusion: citizen identities and policy-making are disconnected 192 7: Why a representation gap poses a systemic challenge (and the populist alternative) 195 Work Choices 198 Indigenous affairs 201 Climate change 204 The Murray Darling Basin 207 Broadband 212 Higher education 216 Conclusion 218 Part IV: Political change in New Zealand: voting reform, multi-party politics and minority government 223 8: Identities and capabilities in the mass party era in New Zealand 225 Formation and mobilisation of identities 227 Labour Party 229 National Party 237 Aligning accounts with identities 241 Labour Party 242 National Party 245 Policy outcomes and the development of capabilities 246 Conclusion 248 9: Neo-liberalism, social change and democracy 250 Politico-cultural determinants of change 252 Economic determinants of change 258 Institutional determinants of change 260 Neo-liberal public policy reform 265 The public fights back 267 Multiplication of parties 267 Voter rejection 268 Proportional representation 269 Conclusion 270 10: Is electoral reform sufficient? 273 Effective government 276 Representative parliament 283 Access to parliament 286 Conclusion 296 Part V: Democratic renewal 299 11: Reconnecting citizens to the political system 301 Forming citizen preferences and understandings of context 308 Forming interest group preferences 316 Parliamentary committees and the formation of preferences and understandings of context 322 Parliamentary infrastructure 322 The media and the public sphere 326 Conclusion 329 12: The prospect for democratic renewal 330 Britain 331 Voting reform 332 House of Commons committee system 335 House of Lords 337 Devolution and decentralisation 338 The outlook 340 Australia 341 New Zealand 344 Select committees and public opinion 346 Review of MMP 349 Elected upper house 352 The role of the state 353 State economic strategies 353 States and globalisation 356 Conclusion 358 Bibliography 361 Index 388 "The story of liberal democracy over the last half century has been a triumphant one in many ways, with the number of democracies increasing from a minority of states to a significant majority. Yet substantial problems afflict democratic states, and while the number of democratic countries has expanded, democratic practice has contracted. This book introduces a novel framework for evaluating the rise and decline of democratic governance. Examining three mature democratic countries - Britain, Australia and New Zealand - the authors discuss patterns of governance from the emergence of mass democracy at the outset of the twentieth century through to its present condition. The shared political cultures and institutional arrangements of the three countries allow the authors to investigate comparatively the dynamics of political evolution and the possibilities for systemic developments and institutional change"-- Résumé de l'éditeur