Political Parties as Vehicles of Political Engagement

Concern over the state of democratic participation in Britain has led to a re-evaluation of the whole process of political engagement. Due to life-cycle or cohort effects young people are the most likely of all groups of society to be disengaged from political life-largely because they tend to lack social capital. Appealing to Britain’s youth is a challenge for all forms of representative democracy. Apart from appealing to voters at election times, political parties attempt to recruit supporters into membership of the party, and pay particular attention to recruiting young people into their fold. The role of political parties in promoting political engagement with particular reference to their treatment of their youth sections is explored here. The access routes to political influence for young people are investigated with reference to the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in Britain. Methods of incorporating the voice of youth vary from party to party but they share a desire to be seen to be taking youth concerns seriously. Youth sections may provide a useful method of promoting bonding social capital within a political party but the parties may be less fully equipped to reach outside the confines of their own organisations to provide bridging social capital.