Stumbling blocks in the path of small-scale democratic politics: lessons from the experiences of parish councils in England

Abstract

With the advent of localism as a policy preference across partisan lines and with increasing academic and policy emphasis on the value of a “thick” deliberative form of citizen participation, it would appear that the institution of small-scale-politics is in a positive moment. Using evidence from one of the most established practices of small-scale politics in England- parish councils - we argue that there may be some elemental flaws in micro-political engagement that cannot be overlooked.
Drawing on a qualitative study of the electoral recruitment process in 21 parish councils in England we show that notwithstanding the lower barriers to entry to localised politics, modest power vetoes can (sometimes unconsciously) block the engagement of ‘others’. We find that issues about what is socially acceptable block engagement in close-knit communities and that crucially, elections struggle to function as a democratic tool where the conflict that is so central to political dialogue is absent. We find smaller scales exacerbate status concerns and costs for individual and groups leading to inertia in recruitment. The issue is not whether “small is better or even beautiful” but rather whether we can understand fully and address the pathologies around political participation in small scale politics

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ORCID for Matt Ryan: orcid.org/0000-0002-8693-5063

ORCID for Gerry Stoker: orcid.org/0000-0002-8172-3395

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