EU CITIZENS INCREASINGLY PESSIMISTIC ABOUT POLITICS

EU citizens are becoming more pessimistic about politics. They have lost faith in politics and there is dismay and disillusionment about how politics works. The malaise of pessimism that surrounds public debate owes part of its cause to a growing recognition of the scale of the financial, economic, social and environmental challenges we face. It also draws much of its power from an increasing sense that there is not much that can be done about them collectively given the current atrophied state of politics and governmental institutions. The pessimism of citizens reflects the failure of politics to deliver outputs or societal outcomes that they value. In short, it is the performance of politics that is a cause of dissatisfaction.

As expressed by Gerry Stoker, Professor of politics and governance at the University of Southhampton in the U.K. " We have shifted the balance in our politics from a partisan to a managerial political world where societal ends are agreed and the core political issues has become how to judge the relative competence of the parties and politicians to achieve the desired ends. Politics then becomes focused on the performance of the government and leaders or what prospective opponents could offer. But this focus on performance in turn supports a rather shallow form of political exchange in which the allocation of credit or blame becomes the focus, and a cycle of hope followed by despair drives public opinion as a new leader rises only to fall as feet of clay."

It is also our role as public policy advocates to drive political understanding and engagement. Public debate, open access to expertise and knowledge can play their part in building again a platform for belief in politics and that collectively we can achieve things. We need to find ways to talk about politics but as a by-product of a wider engagement in the decision making process.