Politics beyond politicians?

“The world is wearied of statesmen, whom democracy has degraded into politicians,” wrote Benjamin Disraeli in 1870.

Thankfully, democracy has advanced considerably over the last 150 years. Voters (and their representatives) stretch beyond a narrow cohort of propertied men. Citizens enjoy a much wider range of rights and freedoms. And overall standards of living – along with people’s broader expectations – have increased dramatically.

But one thing hasn’t changed, and that’s our general view of politicians. Caught in a vicious cycle, it seems they are both degraded by democracy (by trying to please people by making sweeping promises in order to win elections), and contribute to its perceived degradation (by inevitably disappointing people by failing to keep all of their promises once they are elected).

It’s easy to see how people can get so frustrated with the way democracy works. And yet, if politicians are to reverse the low esteem in which they are broadly held, they don’t seem to be doing themselves many favours.

At Westminster, political correspondents and newspaper editors have nearly run out of adjectives to describe MPs’ handling of Brexit: shambolic, farcical, incompetent, embarrassing, humiliating. The list goes on. The ‘mother of all parliaments’ is currently in the mother of all messes.

For all the chaos in the Commons, it could be said that at least MPs are carrying out (some of) the business of government. As Northern Ireland approaches 800 days without a functioning Assembly or Executive, the same is not true for MLAs at Stormont. Many are still working hard in their constituencies, of course, but they are not legislating or governing.

One response might be to look away in collective despair. Maybe these problems aren’t so bad. Or, if they are, maybe they’ll somehow resolve themselves automatically – or maybe someone else will fix them for us.

Blaming politicians would be an equally convenient approach, and perhaps more satisfying. But this would be neither constructive nor entirely fair. After all, who voted for these politicians with whom we seem to be so frustrated? Is the chaos at Westminster or the vacuum at Stormont not just a reflection of what we all say we want, or don’t want?

A very different approach would be to take collective ownership of the deep problems facing our democracy – and to try coming up with constructive solutions. That requires asking some basic, yet challenging, questions. Who are political leaders? How should democratic politics be conducted? And what can we as citizens do to make a positive difference?

These don’t have to be rhetorical questions. On Monday, Northern Slant is hosting what promises to be a timely panel discussion: ‘Politics Beyond Politicians’. We’ll hear from a former politician, a community activist, a business director, a local government leader, a political consultant and, above all, anyone who wants to come along to be part of the conversation. You can join us.

This is not about pitching politicians in opposition to ‘the people’. Far from it. Instead, we should be discussing how civil society can play an effective role alongside politicians in order to make our democracy work better. Plenty of illustrations are already on offer. Few are as striking as the recent Citizens’ Assembly for Northern Ireland. Who who would have thought that in a place as divided as Northern Ireland a cross-section of society could come together to respectfully consider a pressing political issue, giving up their time over multiple weekends?

We might be frustrated with politics, but maybe that’s in large part because we’ve allowed ourselves to be constrained by a certain type of politics. It’s certainly hard to imagine how modern democracy could function without elected politicians to take decisions on behalf of millions of citizens. Yet, given the scale and complexities of the challenges that we face, it’s also hard to imagine how elected politicians can be expected to shoulder this responsibility on their own.

If democracy has been ‘degraded’ by leaving politics to politicians, can civil society help to upgrade it?

Limited tickets still available for ‘Politics Beyond Politicians‘ on Monday 25 March: click here to get yours.