In the UK, only 1% of the electorate are members of a political party. Or put another way: "between them the three main parties now have fewer members than the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds"
I care enough about politics to know who I'm voting for but not enough to go out and campaign for the party I'm voting for, are people that are members of a party the people that put up signs in their windows and the like? What is a "member" of the conservative party? Does someone just sign some paper or do they pay money to support the party, or commit to helping campaign?
http://www.economist.com/node/21559901
What happens as party membership continues to decline? At what point does it become farcical?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/british-democracy-d...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jul/06/politics...