Some observers suggest that a healthy democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote requires variety of opportunities for active participation in the political process by citizens, others, for instance Joseph Schumpeter, suggest that all that is need for democracy to be democratic is a ‘competitive struggle for the peoples democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote’.

There are a number of ways in which people can participate in a democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote democracy including; voting in elections, joining a political party, supporting a democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote group or New Social Movement and taking part in demonstrations.

Participation is sometimes divided in ‘Old Politics’ (parties, voting, pressure groups), and democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote Politics (new social movements, identity politics and democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote action. In recent years Old Politics appear to be in decline with New Politics to some extent taking its place. A number of reasons have been given to explain this including; democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote, the decline of the nation state, the decline of ideology, changes in the class structure and post modernism.

Voting Behaviour
Between the end of the Second World War and the 1970’s party democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote and party loyalty were very strong. This is called democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote alignment. Partisan alignment was based on class. Members of the working class voted democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote and members of the middle class voted Conservative. There were always some democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote voters but few floating or tactical voters.
From the 1970’s some sociologists have discerned a process of partisan dealignment (a weakening if identification with particular parties). A number of reasons have been given for this including; changes in the class structure, a decline in democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote and the rise of a ‘policy preference’ approach to voting.
In recent years the Labour Party has rebranded itself and shifted away from left wing democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote towards the centre of the political spectrum. This resulted in three successive General Election victories. When one looks at the social background of New Labour voters it is clear that there has been further partisan dealignment with many democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote class voters voting Labour.



Women used to be more likely than men to vote Conservative but this trend has all but disappeared. democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote however has an important influence on voting behaviour with Black and Asian voters being far more likely to vote Labour. There is a tendency for younger people to vote Labour and democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote people to vote Conservative. Young people are also far less likely to vote at all. Region still plays an important role in voting behaviour with voters in the North, Wales and Scotland being far more likely to vote Labour than people in the democracydeviantdirectEthnicityglobalisationidentificationideologyLabourmiddleNewolderpartisanpressurerepresentativesocialismSouthvote.