This then leads on to the next question. What impact does this have on us? Jacob rightly points out that abstention is both a democratic right and often a show of discontent with the choices (or lack thereof) on offer at election time. The point is however that abstention alone cannot protect us from the actions of government. Voting is not an opt-in/out choice that has implications for our relation to government and its administrative organs. Whatever we choose to do we are still subjected to the actions of party-run governments, even if they do not rule in our name. This is where the system stuff matters as it is not only set up against those who oppose it, it even works against those who try and work within it e.g. the Greens.

The power corrupts bit was a reflection on the seemingly inherent dynamics of parties and implicitly a questioning of parties as a whole. This leads on to a much wider debate surrounding democracy, which is probably better saved for another time). Such a debate would also touch upon Neuroskeptic’s point about single issue/non-electoral forms of engagement that can bypass political parties and the mainstream system altogether. They may have good causes, one’s that I would more often than not support, however by the same token there are problems to say they are more democratic.

Re: the Lib Dems as a fringe party. I would suggest it depends on what level of government you look at and where. They’ve made inroads at local government level with majorities/a significant presence in Labour heartlands such as Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool. When it comes to national elections though their presence is much less substantial, which is in part due to FPTP.

PR however is desperately needed here. The article mentions Germany as an example, and although party membership may be declining, at least with PR fringe parties (especially the Greens) actually are winning seats and gaining influence. A similar thing might happen here?

Quick question though: to what extant are the Lib Dems a ‘fringe party’ or just like Labour and the Tories? It’s difficult to tell sometimes.

My impression is that the current decline in political engagement is because people are pissed off at the whole political system and politicians in general, which is bad if you’re a politician I suppose, but it’s not necessarily bad for the rest of us.

Where it becomes bad is if it leads to inaction on important issues, like, say, global warming. But it’s not clear that it has to, one could campaign for reduced carbon emissions, say, without doing so by campaigning for a particular party.