The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Anti-politics and the Left

Anti-politics and the Left
Anti-politics and the Left
There are many kinds of politics, but if politics describes those institutions by which plural societies achieve collective and binding decisions (Crick 1962), then anti-politics describes negative feeling towards those institutions – including politicians, parties, councils, parliaments, and governments. This negativity is targeted towards politicians and parties in general, as opposed to particular politicians or parties (which, of course, would not be quite such a generalised concern). It is targeted towards the institutions of representative democracy and the way they currently work, as opposed to the idea of democracy itself (for which there remains widespread support). Given that most theories of democracy assume a certain amount of scepticism among citizens regarding politicians and the organisations through which they operate (Held 2006), anti-politics describes a level of negativity beyond such a healthy scepticism: an unhealthy cynicism. It also describes a rather active negativity, often deeply felt, as opposed to the passive indifference often discussed under the heading of ‘apathy’.
0968-252X
9-18
Clarke, Nick
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Moss, Jonathan
e5478a0e-3666-4d70-84ed-dc4bba11784d
Stoker, Gerry
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9
Clarke, Nick
4ed65752-5210-4f9e-aeff-9188520510e8
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
Moss, Jonathan
e5478a0e-3666-4d70-84ed-dc4bba11784d
Stoker, Gerry
209ba619-6a65-4bc1-9235-cba0d826bfd9

Clarke, Nick, Jennings, Will, Moss, Jonathan and Stoker, Gerry (2016) Anti-politics and the Left. Renewal, 24 (2), 9-18.

Record type: Article

Abstract

There are many kinds of politics, but if politics describes those institutions by which plural societies achieve collective and binding decisions (Crick 1962), then anti-politics describes negative feeling towards those institutions – including politicians, parties, councils, parliaments, and governments. This negativity is targeted towards politicians and parties in general, as opposed to particular politicians or parties (which, of course, would not be quite such a generalised concern). It is targeted towards the institutions of representative democracy and the way they currently work, as opposed to the idea of democracy itself (for which there remains widespread support). Given that most theories of democracy assume a certain amount of scepticism among citizens regarding politicians and the organisations through which they operate (Held 2006), anti-politics describes a level of negativity beyond such a healthy scepticism: an unhealthy cynicism. It also describes a rather active negativity, often deeply felt, as opposed to the passive indifference often discussed under the heading of ‘apathy’.

Text
ClarkeJenningsMossStoker_Renewal_Preprint.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
Download (186kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 12 April 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 June 2016
Published date: June 2016
Organisations: Politics & International Relations, Geography & Environment

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 395047
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/395047
ISSN: 0968-252X
PURE UUID: 6452e3b5-7cba-4fb7-8c25-ec1249d16804
ORCID for Nick Clarke: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-9849
ORCID for Will Jennings: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9007-8896
ORCID for Gerry Stoker: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8172-3395

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 26 May 2016 07:56
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:36

Export record

Contributors

Author: Nick Clarke ORCID iD
Author: Will Jennings ORCID iD
Author: Jonathan Moss
Author: Gerry Stoker ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×