A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit

Free, regular, and open elections are sought-after qualities of a liberal democracy. Reading electoral turnout as an indicator of political engagement, though, is a reductive reading and can obscure entrenched levels of political disengagement. This article considers the implications of Article 21,...

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Main Author:	Ryan Service
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	University of Salerno 2020-10-01
Series:	Culture e Studi del Sociale
Subjects:	brexit democracy partecipation
Online Access:	http://www.cussoc.it/index.php/journal/article/view/155

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spelling	doaj-ecae281b080e47479184984f6f23b8692020-12-21T15:54:26ZengUniversity of SalernoCulture e Studi del Sociale2531-39752020-10-0152517526A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of BrexitRyan Service0Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, ItalyFree, regular, and open elections are sought-after qualities of a liberal democracy. Reading electoral turnout as an indicator of political engagement, though, is a reductive reading and can obscure entrenched levels of political disengagement. This article considers the implications of Article 21, subsection one, of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as an assessment of political participation. There are three lines of investigation. First, the paper will examine the model of political engagement implied within Article 21 and its subsequent iterations. Second, theories of political participation are linked to a study of civic engagement within the British parliamentary system. Third, building upon these two arguments, the 2016 Brexit referendum is presented as a case study to demonstrate the limitations of a voter turnout measurement. Political participation must be continually (re)imagined, (re)constructed, and reflected upon otherwise we rely upon voting by numbers.http://www.cussoc.it/index.php/journal/article/view/155brexitdemocracypartecipation
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Ryan Service
spellingShingle	Ryan Service A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit Culture e Studi del Sociale brexit democracy partecipation
author_facet	Ryan Service
author_sort	Ryan Service
title	A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit
title_short	A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit
title_full	A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit
title_fullStr	A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit
title_full_unstemmed	A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit
title_sort	reading of article 21 of the united nations declaration of human rights: political (dis)engagement in the context of brexit
publisher	University of Salerno
series	Culture e Studi del Sociale
issn	2531-3975
publishDate	2020-10-01
description	Free, regular, and open elections are sought-after qualities of a liberal democracy. Reading electoral turnout as an indicator of political engagement, though, is a reductive reading and can obscure entrenched levels of political disengagement. This article considers the implications of Article 21, subsection one, of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as an assessment of political participation. There are three lines of investigation. First, the paper will examine the model of political engagement implied within Article 21 and its subsequent iterations. Second, theories of political participation are linked to a study of civic engagement within the British parliamentary system. Third, building upon these two arguments, the 2016 Brexit referendum is presented as a case study to demonstrate the limitations of a voter turnout measurement. Political participation must be continually (re)imagined, (re)constructed, and reflected upon otherwise we rely upon voting by numbers.
topic	brexit democracy partecipation
url	http://www.cussoc.it/index.php/journal/article/view/155
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A Reading of Article 21 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: Political (Dis)engagement in the Context of Brexit

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