Nick Clarke - The Good Politician: Folk Theories, Political Interaction, and the Rise of Anti-Politics

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Nick Clarke, Will Jennings, Jonathan Moss and Gerry Stoker 2018

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We began the research project behind this book in 2014, focused on the period since 1945 a widely recognised milestone for British politics. We were especially interested in what we call anti-politics: citizens negative sentiment regarding formal politics, with formal politics describing that set of activities and institutions required for collective and binding decision-making in plural societies (i.e. tolerating, canvassing, negotiating, compromising, and their institutionalisation in politicians, parties, elections, parliaments, governments). We were interested in the claim, often made, that political disaffection has grown over time in many democracies, such that compared to the period following the Second World War we are now living through an age of anti-politics. We were interested in testing this claim using the case of the United Kingdom (UK), for which good evidence is perhaps uniquely available in the form of public opinion surveys but also letters and diaries collected by Mass Observation (MO), all dating back to the late 1930s.

As our project continued, we realised that another milestone for British politics may have been reached in 2016. Brexit British exit from the European Union (EU), decided by a referendum in June 2016 marks a turning point in the process of European institution-building that began soon after the Second World War. Across the Atlantic, a milestone for American politics may also have been reached in 2016. Donald Trump became the first US President with no experience of military service or government, whether elected or appointed. Also worth noting here is the rise of populism across Europe. By 2015, parties aligning themselves with the people against the political class had gained at least 10 per cent of the vote in twenty European countries. In five of these countries Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and Switzerland such parties had become the largest party. Also worth noting here is the electoral success of Pauline Hansons One Nation party in Australia, where Hanson and three colleagues became Senators in the federal election of 2016. In short, this book may draw on British evidence, for the most part, but its themes are relevant to the dynamic of democracies across much of the contemporary world.

Let us consider some of these recent events in a little more detail. There are many ways to interpret Brexit, but one way is to view it as a consequence of the long-term increase in citizens political disaffection we describe and explain in this book. Leave advocates campaigned against the need for politics at the European scale. The campaign against the EU was closely associated with the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which over the years has campaigned against much of politics at the national scale too. Here is Nigel Farage, then leader of UKIP, speaking on the morning of the referendum result (24 June 2016):

Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people. We have fought against the multinationals. We have fought against the big merchant banks. We have fought against big politics. We have fought against lies, corruption, and deceit. And today, honesty, decency, and belief in nation, I think now is going to win. And we will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired.