Archive for May, 2009

The world is confronted with three crises: The economic crisis; the energy crisis; and the impact of climate change. All are intertwined and their caurse and effects are reciprocal, according to Jeremy Rifkin, the American author of The European Dream. Recently in Prague he passed a stark message that we must take on the move towards a low carbon society within the next decade or risk “the end of civilization as we know it”.
So challenges are enormous and it falls within the remit of the next European Parliament to deal with a fair share of them. Against such a back drop, why is the sentiment I ain’t bothered leading in the polls prior to the 5-7 June vote?

It is often said about the European Parliament that it has gained much influence over time, yet election turnout has declined since 1979 and a recent Eurobarometer poll suggests that a mere 35 percent of the electorate bother to vote in June. Lack of press coverage of the Parliaments’ daily work is frequently cited as one explanation for this apparent influence-interest gap, whilst such low turnout is also politicized at times as part of the ongoing debate on the future of Europe.
Whilst mutually contradictory, such explanations have one common denominator: They provide for excuses for the majority which doesn’t vote, assuming that society is to blame.

Meanwhile, political scientists on both sides of the Atlantic have observed a decline of civic culture from the early 1960s to the present day. In Britain where turnout in June is predicted to be among the lowest levels in the EU, waning of traditional bonds such as social class, party and common nationality – and with them such old restraints as hierarchy and deference – have been singled out as explanatory elements in the tale of this decline.
Whilst turnout at national elections in Europe remains comparatively high, voter dissatisfaction has increased parallel to the decline of civic culture, and at lower levels of government, such as the regional level, turnout matches the European level in low numbers.

So I ain’t bothered  is gaining ground both within the EU’s Member States and at European level in the EU.
Therefore explanations that single out only European factors as elements generating the predicted low June turnout fail to grasp and to challenge the full scope of this decline of civic culture in Europe. 

See also Catherine Tate as Laureen: I ain’t bothered! Will she vote in June? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFWkJuPhApc