Participation, Protest and Transformation

Some argue that while people dislike traditional politics, they have actively embraced new ways of doing politics at an ‘everyday’ level; when they want, how they want, and where they want. If it is correct that the ways people ‘do’ politics has changed quite significantly, then this has potentially far-reaching consequences for how the traditional institutions of political representation, namely, parliaments and political parties, engage with or seek to ‘represent’ those individuals.

We aim to understand more systematically how people live their ‘political lives’ in the twenty-first century, and more specifically how groups and organisations including political parties, members of parliament and parliamentary select committees can adopt new, more effective ways of meaningfully engaging with ‘disaffected democrats’.

This includes, among other things: politics on the internet and social media (its potential, limits, and future trajectory); contemporary political protests and how they are dealt with by political elites; ‘political consumerism’ and how politics might compete in an over-saturated advertising market; the role of media-training and how politicians might ‘talk human’ and connect better with citizens; moral panics and the demonization of politics and politicians in the media and the public sphere.

These research themes all converge around a broad desire to interrogate the nature and trajectory of public disaffection with formal politics, the new outlets for voicing political opinions, how those are dealt with by politicians, and whether they improve or are damaging to democracy.

Ultimately, we aim to understand how traditional democratic institutions might adapt to an evolving socio-political context characterized by diverse, dynamic and volatile forms of participation.