ABSTRACT
Participation in a political process is, believe it or not, a very common activity in the UK. It is an activity that a majority of citizens engage in throughout their life; often without fully realising they are actually involved in a political process. Think about the number of times children at school vote for a ‘form captain’, think about those occasions at school or college when a representative for the class has been chosen, who then, on behalf of the class, outlines a point of view at a school council meeting. Think about the number of citizens who have signed a petition, or have collected money for what they believe to be ‘a good cause’. There are citizens who have put a poster on their bedroom wall or a sticker in the window of their car. There are those who will refuse to purchase goods from a certain supplier or country. How many meetings must take place in community centres, church halls or village halls in a year? Think about all the letters of support or complaint that are written to newspapers in a year. Citizens commonly undertake these activities at various times throughout their life. The irony is that, whilst many citizens will involve themselves in all or some of these activities, they simultaneously declare that they are ‘not interested in politics’, or that the political process is ‘nothing to do with them’. The activities outlined above, however, would suggest the opposite, and indicate both the centrality of political processes in the everyday life of the UK citizen and the fact that one specific political process has come to dominate all others, to the extent that it has become part of the culture of the UK. It is from this base that it is possible to explore the wider relationship between the citizen and the political process.
