One more heave – or does Labour need a much deeper ideological renewal?

By Rick Muir
Public Service - 01 September 2010
As voting begins on who will be the next Labour Party leader and Tony Blair urges the party not to abandon New Labour, Rick Muir wonders if the party needs a new approach.

The balance sheet

By Lisa Harker and Carey Oppenheim
Public Finance - 08 July 2010
Things really did get better under New Labour. But now we need a new settlement for progressive politics and public service reform, say Lisa Harker and Carey Oppenheim

The English left needs to reclaim English identity

By Rick Muir
Labour List  - 08 July 2010
The English left needs to reclaim English identity – otherwise there is a dangerous vacuum in which all sorts of resentments over devolution and immigration get channelled through the prism of a reactionary and belligerent Englishness.

Labour's battle for middle England

By Michael Kenny, associate fellow
Guardian - Comment is Free - 04 July 2010
In order to recover, Labour needs to engage with national renewal in England, just as it tried to do in Scotland and Wales

Follow the Mexican way

By Lisa Harker and Carey Oppenheim
New Statesman - 21 May 2010
The fast pace of politics is damaging. Our new government could learn from the Zapatistas.

The hallmarks of a progressive government

By Carey Oppenheim and Lisa Harker
- 13 May 2010
ippr sets out the hallmarks of a progressive government.

Why has no one noticed that a hung parliament would trigger a constitutional crisis in England?

By Guy Lodge
- 30 April 2010

This election was supposed to be about the parties plans’ to tackle Britain’s monster deficit. Now all the talk is of a hung parliament. Yet no one seems to have noticed that a UK hung parliament could have profound implications for the way England is governed – and for the future of UK itself.

Economic geography lessons

By Katie Schmuecker
Public Finance - 27 April 2010
Figures showing the public sector constitutes up to 70 per cent of the economy in some parts of the country are shocking, but deserve closer inspection.

Economic geography lessons

By Katie Schmuecker
Public Finance - 27 April 2010

Figures showing the public sector constitutes up to 70 per cent of the economy in some parts of the country are shocking, but deserve closer inspection.

MyPolice impersonation

By Guy Lodge, Associate Director, ippr
Left Foot Forward - 31 March 2010

What happens when a giant state bureaucracy decides to trample all over one of the  innovative social enterprises in Britain? So far, nothing much.

Real change needs to move faster and further

By Katie Schmuecker, Senior Research Fellow, ippr north
Public Servant - 25 March 2010

Big changes were only hinted at in Alistair Darling's latest Budget.

Society and the State: Does Size Matter?

By Guy Lodge, Associate Director and Jonathan Clifton, Researcher, ippr
Speakers' Corner Trust
- 18 March 2010

Ippr were invited to take part in a debate with Policy Exchange about the size and roll of the state. You can read the full debate between ippr and Policy Exchange here. Read more for ippr’s opening statement for the debate.

Capable communities

By Rick Muir, Senior Research Fellow, ippr
Progress - 04 March 2010

Greater public involvement in service delivery could bring great rewards, but challenges remain, not least the lack of volunteers.

Public service reform in the 2010 election: society versus the state

By Jonathan Clifton, Researcher, ippr
eGov monitor - 01 March 2010
Society vs State: "It should not be about ‘more’ or ‘less’ state, but about the state working in a different way to achieve better outcomes." Jonathan Clifton from ippr explores this key debate.

Power to the people

By

Jonathan Clifton, Researcher

Public Finance - 25 February 2010

Greater citizen involvement in running public services is building a popular front of support from Westminster to Tooting and beyond. But Jonathan Clifton cautions that it is harder to achieve in practice than in theory.

Ethical policymaking

By Carey Oppenheim, ippr Co-Director
Citizen Ethics in a Time of Crisis - 22 February 2010
Values are needed to make the thorny decisions necessary to deal with the public debt, argues Carey Oppenheim

Englishness: the forbidden identity

By Michael Kenny, ippr
Commentisfree - 11 February 2010
Unpleasant nationalism thrives when polite society holds its nose and treats Englishness as a white working-class problem

England, England

By Guy Lodge and Michael Kenny, ippr
Progress - 04 February 2010
If Labour wants to reconnect with working-class voters, it must start articulating a progressive form of English patriotism

Time for concrete action on electoral reform

By Lisa Harker, Co-Director, ippr
politics.co.uk - 03 February 2010
Hearing the prime minister on an ippr platform yesterday, speaking with some passion about constitutional reform and the need for a 'new politics', took me back to the summer of 2007.

After open primaries, it's time for open conferences

By Carey Oppenheim, Co-Director, ippr
politics.co.uk - 18 September 2009
In the present mood of political reform, parties should grab the opportunity to make their conferences more open to the public.

What price an MP?

By David Hencke, Westminster Correspondent for Tribune
politics.co.uk - 10 September 2009
Following the expenses scandal the Commons authorities privately think as many as two-thirds of MPs will go at the next election. What are the lessons to learn from such a debacle?

All quiet on the electoral front

By Kate Stanley, Deputy Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research
Public Finance - 03 September 2009
The major parties are still not giving anything away about their spending plans, but they should see the recession as a chance to push for overdue reform.

Back in line?

By Guy Lodge, Associate Director, ippr
Public Finance - 21 July 2009
The MPs’ expenses scandal highlighted the need for parliamentary reform, both to make elected representatives more accountable and to give them more power over the Executive. This could be done painlessly, argues Guy Lodge

A new chapter for the centre-left

By Michael Kenny, Visiting Fellow
The Guardian - 18 June 2009
The political fallout from the crisis of Gordon Brown's leadership continues to overshadow the government's attempts to deal with the pressing issues of the day – the recession and the reform of the political system. Labour needs to convince the public that it has something worth saying on these major questions. Recycling the slogan of Labour investment v Tory cuts is unlikely to be enough in the context of a major recession and the government's reputation for being less than candid about difficult truths.

Restore trust to reform democracy

By Rick Muir, Senior Research Fellow
libdemvoice - 12 June 2009
The crisis over MPs’ expenses has shattered trust in politicians. Trust in Parliament has never been particularly high – it has now plummeted to new depths. Our long-standing scepticism as to the motives of politicians has turned into a strongly held conviction that ‘they’re all at it’.

A citizens' convention

By Carey Oppenheim, ippr Co-Director
The Guardian - 04 June 2009
Instead of measures foisted on them from above, voters should have a say in political reform through a citizens' convention.

Time for a new Chartism

By Rick Muir, Senior Research Fellow, ippr
ippr - 18 May 2009
Rick Muir calls for a mordern Charter, the demands of which should include reform to an outdated electoral system that excludes the diversity of voices in our society from parliament.

India: The largest ever expression of democratic will

By Laura Chappell, research fellow
Progress - 14 March 2009
What do you get if you combine a billion votes, a month of polling, and election officials criss-crossing desert, mountains and jungle? The answer is the largest ever expression of democratic will, India's 2009 general election. India this week announced the dates - April 16th to May 16th - when elections to its Parliament, the Lok Sabha, will take place.

Take the politics out of policing

By Rick Muir, Senior Research Fellow
The Guardian - 05 February 2009
The Met is crippled by confusion over who is in charge of the force, as the debacle over the commisioner's role revealed

Michael Johnson: North or South? A choice we simply do not have to make

By Michael Johnson, Research Fellow, ippr north
Yorkshire Post - 18 August 2008
So we're told that London is the future. Established cities with thriving economies are destined to be subsumed as satellite or dormitory towns as London's economic dominance continues unabated. It sounds a bit like how Blade Runner might've looked had Ridley Scott had a background in town planning. But this view for the future of the UK has been advocated by the Policy Exchange think tank.

Bin the Barnett formula

By Guy Lodge, Head of Democracy and Power, ippr
Telegraph - 15 July 2008
New research by ippr north on the Barnett formula reveals the true extent of the funding disparities between the constituent nations of the UK. Spending per head in Scotland is 24 per cent higher than that spent in England. This means that Scots receive £1,161 more  per head than the English.

The trouble with iPod democracy

By Michael Kenny, Visiting Research Fellow, ippr
Comment Is Free - 12 July 2008

Holding elections for local leaders with real powers looks like a healthier way to get people to vote than offering prize draws.

Response to Sir Jeremy Beecham

By Michael Kenny and Guy Lodge, Democracy and Power
Progress - 17 June 2008
Last week, Sir Jeremy Beecham argued on Progress Online against Guy Lodge's recent article in favour of elected mayors. Lodge and his co-author of a recent ippr pamphlet on mayors, Michael Kenny, respond

Electing local leaders

By Michael Kenny, Visiting Research Fellow at ippr
LGA firstonline - 03 June 2008
More people should have the right to elect their local leader, argues Prof Michael Kenny, of the ippr think tank.

Lyons made

By Sue Stirling, Director, ippr north
Public Finance - 09 May 2008
In the year since Sir Michael Lyons set out his vision for the future of local government, ministers have launched initiatives to boost the ‘place-shaping’ role of councils. But the funding conundrum remains, argues Sue Stirling.

More Mayors for England

By Mike Kenny and Guy Lodge, ippr
Prospect - 24 April 2008
English mayors are popular and successful. The government should legislate to introduce more of them.

The English question

By Michael Kenny and Richard Hayton
Comment is free - 18 March 2008
Rarely has a government been so keen to promulgate a sense of national identity as that led by Gordon Brown. And rarely has Britishness itself been such a topic of political debate. We are promised a British bill of rights and duties, and before that a statement of British values. Meanwhile Margaret Hodge, the culture minister, in a speech on Britishness, generated a furore for criticising the absence of diversity associated with The Proms.

Royal oath furore obscures wider need for ceremony

By Rick Muir, Research Fellow, Power and Democracy
OpenDemocracy - 11 March 2008
A huge furore has greeted the publication of Lord Goldsmith’s review of citizenship. This is largely due to the idea (floated as an option rather than a recommendation) that young people should be asked to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

Brown must answer ‘the English question’

By Katie Schmuecker, Research Fellow at ippr north.
Tribune Magazine - 23 July 2007
In his landmark statement on constitutional reform Gordon Brown rejected the Conservative policy of English votes on English matters out of hand on the grounds that he “will do nothing to put at risk the Union”. He is right that English votes would be a fast track to the dissolution of the Union. His alternative response to the “English Question” – regional Ministers and regional question times – is a step in the right direction but he needs to go further if he is to head off the Tories on what may become their main line of attack. 

Union Blues

By Guy Lodge and Katie Schmuecker, ippr Researchers.
The Parliamentary Monitor - 22 July 2007
The great Victorian statesman, Benjamin Disraeli famously declared that “England is not governed by logic, but by Parliament”. It is perhaps surprising then that today’s Conservative party are pursuing ‘logical’ policies such as ‘English votes on English laws’, as a way of dealing with English governance. Gordon Brown has rightly rejected the policy, understanding that it is unworkable. Instead the new Prime Minister has tried to address the English Question by creating English regional ministers and select committees. This welcome move will give England a stronger voice in Westminster, but in itself is insufficient. Brown needs a further package of reforms which deal with the anomalies of devolution and improve the way England is governed by taking power away from the centre.

A new dawn breaks

By Ian Kearns, Deputy Director, ippr
Whitehall and Westminster World - 10 July 2007
“Over to you, Mr Brown”, so read countless newspaper headlines in the weeks leading up to appointment of Britain’s 52nd prime minister. Others declared “a new era has begun”. But will Brown’s premiership be an interregnum, like that of John Major’s tenure as Prime Minister between 1990 and 1997, or a new epoch?

Exclusively English?

By Rick Muir, Research Fellow.
OpenDemocracy - 02 June 2007
The debate over an English parliament in OurKingdom is further evidence that English national identity is on the rise. A recent ippr report found that whereas in 1992 over 60% of English people chose ‘British’ as the best way to describe themselves, this had fallen to below half by 2005 while those choosing ‘English’ as the best way to describe themselves rising from 31% to 40% over the same period.

Going global

By Guy Lodge, Senior Research Fellow
Whitehall & Westminster World - 31 May 2007
When it comes to civil service reform, much can be learned from overseas, argues Guy Lodge.

How will we cope with the battle of Britain to come?

By Katie Schmuecker
The Herald - 08 May 2007
Whatever the outcome of the current negotiations, Alex Salmond is likely to be the next First Minister of Scotland, either as leader of a coalition or of a minority government. This raises for the first time the prospect of different parties in power in Holyrood and Westminster, a scenario that has been met with predictions of titanic clashes between Gordon Brown and Alex Salmond. What has been overlooked in this debate is the rather less glamorous, but nonetheless important, question of how our system of government will cope with this new development. The straightforward answer is likely to be: not very well.

Oui, monsieur le ministre

By Nick Pearce
Public Finance Magazine - 20 April 2007
Traditionally, British civil servants think they do things better than their foreign equivalents. But there are numerous examples of international good practice that Whitehall would do well to emulate.

Link reform to outcomes.

By Guy Lodge
Public - 05 April 2007
Too little thought has been given to the relationship between constitutional systems and outcomes. Broaden your political ideas, says Guy Lodge.

Red letter day on a radical alliance

By Guy Lodge, research fellow, democracy and Iain McLean, Oxford University
Tribune - 16 March 2007
Iain McLean and Guy Lodge urge Gordon Brown to rebuild the progressive consensus that previously served this country so well

Condition critical

By Richard Brooks
Progress - 06 March 2007
Despite massive investment in our public services, voters are losing faith in Labour’s ability to deliver

Civil Service Reform – the missing piece in the public service reform jigsaw

By Guy Lodge, Research Fellow, Democracy Team
The House Magazine - 12 February 2007
Looking at Whitehall today it is hard to resist the idea that it is once again time for more orgies of reform. Whether it be the latest administrative bungling at the Home Office or the financial mismanagement at the Department for Health, it seems clear that the civil service is struggling with the art of public administration.

The Home Office: Splitting at the seams

By Guy Lodge, Senoir Research Fellow, Democracy Team
Progress - 02 February 2007
We all find it difficult to stick to our new year’s resolutions, but the Home Office’s bid to be ‘fit for purpose’ in 2007 was one of the early January casualties as news emerged that the records of hundreds of British nationals convicted abroad had not been entered on to police databases.

Last Orders?

By Lucia Durante, Research Assistant, People and Policy Team
Whitehall & Westminster World - 23 January 2007

As the festive season staggers to a halt, and the traditionally more austere month of January gets under way it is a timely moment to take stock of the government’s attempts to get us to drink less. By the end of January 40 per cent of us will have given up on our New Year’s resolutions, and Christmas hangovers will just be a painful memory. If past years are anything to go by we’ll be regretting signing up to the gym, finishing our detox diets and getting ready to try and find a balance between December’s excesses and January’s Puritanism.

Citizen assemblies: radical common sense

By Ben Rogers, associate director and head of democracy
Open Democracy - 29 November 2006

An innovative way of involving citizens in public, democratic deliberation is spreading, says Ben Rogers.

The Stockholm Syndrome

By Jenny Bird, Research Assistant, Sustainability Programme
Whitehall and Westminster World - 24 October 2006

The ippr’s Jenny Bird says lessons must be learned from the contrasting examples of Edinburgh and Stockholm in the current road pricing debate

Making every vote count

By Ben Rogers
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree - 29 September 2006
It looks like Labour is slowly coming round to the case for electoral reform.

Hello Gordon

By Ben Rogers
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree  - 26 September 2006
Is the chancellor right to eschew celebrity politics, or do we need a little soap opera to help us engage?

Multiplying the 'magic 1%'

By Ben Rogers
guardian.co.uk/commentisfree - 25 September 2006
"We must have an active, living democracy in our in our country and we must whip up our citizen's to their responsibilities." So said Peter Mandelson's grandfather, Herbert Morrison, in 1948. The left no longer speaks in quite such patricians terms anymore, but it remains, perhaps is increasingly defined by, its view that people can be and should be encouraged to get more involved in public affairs

12 propositions on civil service reform

By Ben Rogers and Guy Lodge, democracy
Transformation - 12 September 2006
Ben Rogers and Guy Lodge from think-tank ippr, make the case that the drive towards public service improvement must include reform of the civil service .

In the spotlight

By Guy Lodge, research fellow, democracy
Whitehall and Westminster World - 01 September 2006
Recent events at the Home Office and elsewhere in Whitehall, along with last months capability reviews, have exposed significant weaknesses in the way the Civil Service operates, and have thrown the issue of Civil Service reform under the spotlight.

The electoral trinity

By Rick Muir, research fellow, democracy
Whitehall and Westminster World - 31 August 2006
Action by local political leaders, council officers and voluntary groups can make a crucial difference in boosting voter turnout, suggests ippr's Rick Muir.

Clearing up confused lines in Whitehall

By Guy Lodge, research fellow, democracy
Public Servant - 25 August 2006
The Home Office has created impetus for Whitehall reform, but the government has yet to decide how to deal with it. Guy Lodge challenges ministers and civil servants to accept real responsibilities.

Need to get out more

By Ben Rogers, associate director, democracy and Guy Lodge research fellow, democracy
Public Finance - 18 August 2006

It’s not just the Home Office that’s unfit for purpose. The whole of Whitehall suffers from poor qualifications, lack of experience and confused accountability. The answer, argue Guy Lodge and Ben Rogers, is a clear division of responsibility between ministers and mandarins

Counterblast on restorative justice

By Ben Rogers
Inside Track (Home Office magazine) - 12 August 2006

The most boring topic in the world?

By Ben Rogers, associate director, democracy
Guardian Unlimited - 07 August 2006
Nobody cares about civil service reform - but we must put Whitehall back on track.

Public engagement in criminal justice

By Ben Rogers, associate director and head of democracy
Criminal Justice Matters  - 01 August 2006
It is arguable that, after more than a decade in which everyone has insisted on the need for more ‘community policing’ we are witnessing a real change in the terms of exchange between the public and the police. 

Pushing the electoral envelope

By Ben Rogers, associate director and head of democracy 
Whitehall and Westminster World  - 04 July 2006

Another poor turnout in this year’s local elections shows that the case for compulsory turnout is impossible to ignore. Many people are aware that turnout has declined dramatically in recent elections – indeed turnout in the last two general elections was lower than in any peace time general elections in modern times.

Hard Act to follow

By Nick Pearce, director
Public Finance - 16 June 2006

From protecting care home standards to saving people from torture, the Human Rights Act touches on all aspects of public life. Yet it is under fierce attack. Nick Pearce examines why

Active participation

By Rick Muir, research fellow, democracy
The Municipal Journal  - 15 June 2006
From David Miliband to David Cameron, politicians of all parties are now championing the cause of active citizenship. 

Voting as a civic duty

By Ian Kearns, deputy director
openDemocracy - 05 June 2006

The revival of participation in Britain’s ailing democracy should include an obligation on citizens to vote, argues Ian Kearns

The blue skies brains trust

By Greg Clark MP
The House Magazine - 22 May 2006

The IPPR is Britain’s most prolific think-tank, and widely credited with shaping the ideology of New Labour. Greg Clark meets its lateral-thinking director

Figures continue controversy over spending share

By Katie Schmuecker and John Adams
The Journal - 15 May 2006
The level of public expenditure per head in different parts of the UK has been a source of tension in recent years.  Many in the North East believe the region loses out compared to the nations of the UK due to the workings of the ‘Barnett Formula’, and the publication of the Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis 2006 is likely to continue the controversy.

North must be a priority for funding

By John Adams, research director, ippr north
Local Government Chronicle - 04 May 2006
European Structural Funds - the EU's main instrument for tackling regional disparities - have made a major contribution to economic development in the UK over the last two decades.  But in the next few years, levels of EU assistance in Britain will fall by 40 per cent, which means that practitioners are going to have to get used to doing more with less.

The new empowerment agenda

By Ian Kearns, deputy director
In View Spring 2006 - 31 March 2006

Public opinion: what is Englishness?

By Nick Pearce, director
The Times - 28 February 2006
What is Englishness? Does it matter? And what does it mean for our public services?

Minister for the Day - Minister without Portfolio

By Nick Pearce, director
Whitehall and Westminster World  - 17 January 2006
Wake up, fall out of bed, drag a comb across my head. Make my way downstairs and turn on the radio. A colleague intones, drearily. The interviewer is aggressive, but not incisive.  I turn off the radio.

They're not that different, yet

By Katie Schmuecker
The Guardian Public magazine - 05 January 2006
Being able to make choices about priorities according to local circumstances is a key argument in favour of devolving powers away from Westminster.  Six years into the devolution project differences are emerging in the priorities being set by Scotland, Wales and England.

The paradox of permanence and its effect on reform

By Guy Lodge, research fellow, democracy
Solace - 01 January 2006
Addressing delegates at the 2005 Labour party conference, Tony Blair said that the purpose of the Labour party in government was to be the party of "change-makers". But change-makers need help, and central to the effective implementation of the government's challenging third term agenda is the civil service. Is Whitehall up to the job?

In defence of Britain's most hated buildings

By John Adams
Newcastle's The Journal - 16 December 2005
As the Gateshead car park is voted one of the most hated buildings in the country, John Adams defends this iconic structure and argues that development needs to build upon industrial heritage, not gloss over it.

Connectivity is the way to spread the Northern Way’s benefits

By Dermot Finch, director, centre for cities
New Start - 25 November 2005
How can the Northern Way help the economies of the north of England grow and thrive? Dermot Finch offers a few pointers

Ending whitehall exceptionalism

By Guy Lodge, research fellow, democracy
Public Service Magazine - 14 November 2005
Guy Lodge argues that Sir Gus O'Donnell needs to prove to the cynics that the introduction of Departmental Capability Reviews will bring about real change in Whitehall.

Changing public behaviour

By Miranda Lewis
in view - 01 October 2005

Anti-social behaviour: perception or reality?

By Miranda Lewis, Senior Research Fellow, People and Policy
Inside Housing - 02 September 2005
Public perceptions about anti-social behaviour far outweigh its reality.

Not just the bad Burnley white man

By Miranda Lewis, senior research fellow, people and policy
The Guardian  - 29 June 2005
Hostility to asylum seekers has risen most among the middle class.

Parliament needs a ‘House of Citizens’

By Ben Rogers, associate director, democracy
Financial Times - 02 May 2005

Representative democracy is not in good shape. Across the world, trust in political institutions has fallen. The trend is not universal, but it is pronounced. The last international survey of trust by Gallup found that, in every country, the national parliament was the least trusted of 17 institutions - less trusted even than multinational companies.

Spooks in court

By Nick Pearce
Prospect - 22 February 2005
Few Labour home secretaries keep their liberal credentials intact for very long, and Charles Clarke has turned out to be no exception. He has ridden into a barrage of criticism over plans for the house arrest of potential terrorists.

Clarke's proposals are designed to overcome the law lords' December ruling that the detention provisions of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 discriminate against foreign nationals. By applying control orders to everybody, regardless of nationality, Clarke hopes to overcome that legal hurdle...

New model of community justice

By Lucy Stone, researcher, democracy
Nacro Safer SocietyJournal - 17 December 2004
New Labour has long talked-up the importance of engaging communities in civic life, but it has been slow to act on its rhetoric as far as the adult courts are concerned. While the reforms associated with the setting up of the youth justice board have, arguably, made youth system a more responsive and less impersonal, while the police are under pressure to return bobbies to the beat, the court system remains relatively unreformed. Yes, government has sought to ensure that witnesses and victims are better looked after, and there has been some uptake in restorative justice, but there has been no great drive to strengthen the relation between the courts and the people they are meant to serve.

Review of the week(17)

By John Adams, research director, ippr north
ippr website - 12 November 2004
This week came confirmation that regional assemblies are off the political agenda, for 7 years according to statute but probably far longer in reality. But why did the people of the North East vote so overwhelmingly against devolution, and what other steps are there which need to be taken to improve the governance of the North East, and of England more broadly?

Science for society

By Anthony Vigor, ippr research fellow & Tom MacMillan, Food Ethics Council
Progress - 05 November 2004
In a relatively tight Spending Review the Chancellor allocated significant new resources to science because of his belief in its fundamental role in securing future national prosperity. While this money is very welcome, science policy would still benefit from a strong dose of social democracy.

Touching the local state

By Ben Rogers, ippr senior research fellow, and Hilary Cottam, design council
Municipal Journal - 21 October 2004
Over the last few decades we have got used to the idea that the public sector has to get better at seeing things from the customer’s point of view, and adapting services to fit their needs. We are all familiar with the phrases ‘customer care’ and the injunction to put ‘the customer first’. But while local and national government alike praise citizenship, and insist they want citizens to get involved, who ever talks of ‘citizenship care’, or ‘putting the citizen first’?

Review of the week(21)

By Ben Rogers, ippr senior research fellow
ippr website - 18 June 2004
Membership of political parties and trust in ‘Westminster politics’ are in serious decline. While people remain active on a micro level - boycotting goods, signing petitions and going on marches - they are withdrawing from the formal political system.