Stoic Democrats? Anti-politics, élite cynicism and the policy process

ABSTRACT

Disenchantment with politics appears to be proliferating throughout contemporary liberal democracies, as outlined in the growing literature on anti-politics. Overwhelmingly, this literature has focused on the disaffection citizens express towards the policy process. Here, using policy-making on the issue of obesity in Australia and Britain as a case study, we show that disenchantment is not limited to citizen outsiders; the élite policy actors at the core of the process are cynical, too. Indeed, we unveil an élite cast of ‘stoic democrats’ who see little reward for their continual efforts. We also point to the limits of stoicism highlighted by this ‘extreme’ case, as some élites begin to challenge the legitimacy of formal policy processes, subvert their norms, or ignore them altogether, all in search of more direct impact. We conclude that the literature on anti-politics would benefit from paying greater attention to the potential challenge élite cynicism presents to democratic governance.

KEY WORDS:

• Anti-politics
• deliberation
• network governance
• obesity
• wicked problems

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Dennis Grube and Rod Rhodes for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript, as well as the JEPP referees and editors.

Notes

1 Though we revisit Schattschneider's (1960) perspective briefly in the conclusion, we cannot hope to do it justice. Instead, we direct readers to Mair (1997), which provides an excellent starting point for understanding his enduring appeal.

2 Our analysis of Australia and Britain was initially intended to be comparative in nature. In practice, however, the differences between the two were minimal and the commonalities overwhelming, and so functionally they operate as a single case. This evolution aligns with best practice in interpretive research, whereby preconceived analytical categories often dissolve upon immersion in the empirical data (Flyvbjerg 2006).

3 ‘Placebo policy’ is how Gustafsson and Richardson (1979: 417) describe a policy favoured for its capacity to manage the agenda rather than solve the problem. The classic example in obesity is social marketing, which attracts much publicity despite being known to have no effect on population health.

4 See, for example, Hajer (2009) on the FSA in Britain or Davis (2008) on the 2020 Summit in Australia.

5 Something like this has occurred with the public rejection of the ‘Responsibility Deal’ on alcohol control, for instance (Hawkins et al. 2012).

Additional information

Biographical notes

John Boswell is a lecturer in politics at the University of Southampton and an honorary fellow at the ANZSOG Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra.

Jack Corbett is a research fellow at the Centre for Governance and Policy, Griffith University.