Well, the Power Inquiry was just as interesting as I thought it would be. I’m still ploughing through all the meaty goodness at the site, but two research papers are well worth a read.
This paper discusses the picture of disillusionment with party politics in the UK, while this one examines the possible causes in a little more detail.
They are an excellent overview of the various pieces of (disturbing) evidence on political disengagement, and made me think of Casca in Julius Caesar:
When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say
‘These are their reasons; they are natural;’
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.