Government Effectiveness and Political Participation in Britain

This article examines the relationship between government effectiveness and political participation in Britain. It shows that the effectiveness of British government has been declining over time and while acknowledging that many factors may explain this, focuses on the role of declining political participation as a contributory cause. Two key forms of political participation are central to the health of civil society, electoral turnout and party support. Both have been declining rather rapidly in Britain over the last forty years. The paper discusses some of the theoretical reasons why this can directly influence the effectiveness of government. In the final section it argues that the most important reform for turning around this state of affairs would be a radical programme of devolution of power to local government and a restoration of the democratic accountability of the Quango state.