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UK Politics > 1. Democracy and Participation. 1.2 Franchise and Participation Crisis > Flashcards

1. Democracy and Participation. 1.2 Franchise and Participation Crisis Flashcards

1
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
VOTES TO 16/17 YEAR OLDS
What are 3 arguments that they should be given the vote?

A
  1. Scottish referendum, research shows that 16/17 year olds have higher rates of turnout than 18-24 year olds
  2. matters will directly affect them
  3. will encourage civic mindedness/political interest
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2
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
VOTES TO 16 YEAR OLDS
What are 3 arguments that they should not be given the vote?

A
  1. lack of experience and too young to understand
  2. lower interest of 18-24 year olds have the lowest turnout, why would 16/17 be different
  3. would be impressionable and influence easily
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3
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
VOTES TO PRISONERS
What are 3 arguments to give the vote to prisoners?

A
  1. ECHR ruled that they should change the law (John Hirst took his to ECtHR in 2005 and won)
  2. might take more civic responsibilities
  3. increase turnout (73,000 eligible)
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4
Q

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What are the 4 milestones?

A
  1. 1832 Great Reform Act
  2. 1918 Representation of the People Act
  3. 1928 Representation of the People Act
  4. 1969 Representation of the People Act
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5
Q

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What 2 things did the 1832 Great Reform Act do?

A
  • extend the franchise to around 800,000 people (1/5 males)

- redrew constituency boundaries

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6
Q

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What 3 things did the 1918 Representation of the People Act do?

A
  • made women over age of 30 eligible for first time
  • (subject to minimum property qualifications)
  • extending vote to men over 21
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7
Q

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What 3 things did the 1928 Representation of the People Act do?

A
  • women and men over age of 21 could vote
  • eliminated the property qualifications for women
  • (added 5 million more women to the electoral roll)
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8
Q

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What did the 1969 Representation of the People Act do?

A
  • 18 year old women and men could vote
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9
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS

What is the concept of ‘active citizenship’?

A
  • Blair introduced it
  • expected to become more aware, involved and vote in elections
  • becoming involved in community action and promote their own issues
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10
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS

What are the 3 main indicators of declining participation?

A
  1. falling election turnouts
  2. declining party membership
  3. partisan dealignment and declining activism within parties
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11
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
What is are 2 implications of falling election turnouts?

A
  • the government does not attract attention of the people anymore
  • the government has less of a political mandate
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12
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
What was the general elections turnout in 1997? and in 2010 and 2017?

A

1997: 72%
2010: 65%
2017: 69%

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13
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
What is the EU average general election turnout?

A

75%

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14
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
Give 2 comparable statistics that demonstrate the voting apathy amongst 18-24 year olds?

A

2015 election:
18-24: 43%
65s+: 78%

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15
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
Give the 2016 turnout for the Scottish Parliament and London Assembly

A

Scottish Parl: 56%

London Assembly: 46%

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16
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
Which 2 other types of elections are below average in the UK?

A

Local Elections
rarely reach 40%

EU elections
EU average is 43%
UK average is 34%

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17
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What are the implications of declining party membrehsip?

A
  • harder to find and recruit candidates
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18
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What proportion of the population was a member of a party in 1980 versus 2016? When was it the lowerst?

A

1980: 4.12%
2016: 1.6%

2010 was lowest at 0.8%

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19
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What is a statistic showing that Conservative membership has declined? And a statistic that argues it has increased?

A

decreased:
almost halved since David Cameron elected in 2005
1998: 350,000
2015: 150,000

increased:
2014 - saw a 30% increase after £1-a-year supporters

20
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What is a statistic showing that Labour membership has declined? And a statistic that argues it has increased?

A

decreased:
lost equivalent of 27,000 members since 2010

increased:
changed after 2015

21
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What are 5 effects of falling memberships?

A
  1. 1.5% of electorate are members
  2. UK has lowest rates of membership amongst EU democracies
  3. shortage of candidates
  4. decisions made by a narrower, distant majority
  5. parties rely on donations from wealthy people
22
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What is ‘partisan dealignment’?

A

refers to the declining bond between party and the voter

23
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What are 2 statistics to show partisan dealignment? And what does the British Social Attitudes 2009 survey say?

A

1964 - over 40% felt ‘very strong identification’ with political parties

2001 - less than 5%

Survey:
60% ‘almost never’ trust politicians

24
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What are the implications of partisan dealignment? What are the implications of reduced activism?

A
  • decline in party loyalty
  • more likely to shift vote
  • volatile and inconsistent voting patterns
  • fewer citizens are fully aware of how the voting/electoral system works
25
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What is a statistic that shows reduced activism? What did the 2012 Hansard survey say?

A

39% claim to be knowledgeable about politics

Hansard survey:
42% have interest in politics

26
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS

What are 3 counter-arguments to say that there is not a participation crisis?

A
  1. more opportunities to vote
  2. increased membership of parties
  3. rise of pressure groups
27
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
More Opportunities to Vote
What are 4 more opportunities voters have to participate?

A
  • EU elections
  • more frequent referendums
  • devolved institutions (1999)
  • directly elected mayors (1999)
  • Police Commisssioners (2012)
28
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
More Opportunities to Vote
What does the turnout of referendums and GEs state about opportunities to vote?

A

GEs and referendums are on a general trend of rising

since all time low of 2001

29
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
More Opportunities to Vote
How is the UK’s participation compared to other liberal democracies?

A

largely average

US is 56%
Canada is 62%
UK is 69%

30
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Increased Party Membership
While it is true the main parties have suffered since the 1950s (with a few earlier exceptions such as £1 a year for Cons and gains for Lab), why can it be seen that party membership has increased?

A

other parties have gained popularity

31
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Increased Party Membership
What other parties have gained members?

A

2015 - SNP doubled members to 120,000

2014 - UKIP has 42,000, up from 9000 in 2008

2014 - Scottish Greens have more than tripled their membership in 2014

32
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Increased Party Membership
When and by how much did the Labour party gain members?

A

When:

  • run up to 2015 leadership contest
  • after election of Corbyn
  • in wake of EU referendum
  • after relatively successful GE

How much:

  • July 2016 - on course to hit 600,000
  • 610,000 applied to vote in Labour’s leadership contest
33
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Increased Party Membership
What are the implications of increased party membership?

A
  • demonstrate interest
  • form of activism
  • shows a public mandate of some sort
34
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Rise of Pressure Groups
What are the implications of the rise in pressure groups?

A
  • public is still interested
  • channelled their participation to alternate forms
  • participation levels have changed rather than fallen
35
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Rise of Pressure Groups
Over the past 2 decades, what has there been unprecedented growth in?

A
  1. the number of pressure groups
  2. the number of people joing the PGS
  3. the intensity and scale of PG activities
  4. E-Democracy adn social media
36
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Rise of Pressure Groups
Give 3 statistics that indicate the high levels of people joining pressure groups

A

RSPB Wildlife: 1million+

Friends of the Earth: 200,000

Countryside Alliance: 100,000

37
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Rise of Pressure Groups
Give examples of how the intensity and scale of PGs activities has grown?

A

Stop the War Coalition 2003: 1-2 million marching

Direct action: student campaign against the hike in tuition fees
Extinction Rebellion

38
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Rise of Pressure Groups
Give examples of where people can participate in E-Democracy

A

E-petitions
social networking
‘hacktivism’ (use of technology to promote a political agenda)

39
Q

CA: THERE ISN’T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Rise of Pressure Groups
Give 2 statistics that show how widely used e-petitions are.

A

2016: peition calling 2nd EU referendum was signed by 4.1 million

2016: 50 petitions received more than 100,000 signatures
more than 35 debated in parl

40
Q

PARTICIPATION CRISIS

What could be your conclusion for both sides of the argument?

A

overall participation has declined due to continuing statistics indicating this

the nature of political participation may have changed rather than decline

41
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
Compulsory Voting
What are 3 arguments in favour of this?

A
  1. gov could claim greater legitimacy
  2. political participation is a civic duty (would have educational implications)
  3. the geater the level of political partiicpation, the greater the likelhihood that citizens will think/act like full citizens
42
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY
Compulsory Voting
What are 3 arguments against?

A
  1. compulsory voting would simply mask deeper engagement issues
  2. could encourage non-serious voting
  3. it could be considered a violation of individual freedom
43
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY
eDemocracy
What are 3 arguments in favour of this?

A
  1. citizens can express their views without having to leave home
  2. enlarges citizens’ access to information, making truly free exchange of ideas/views
  3. genuinely democratic process where citizens become active
44
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY
eDemocracy
What are 2 arguments against this?

A
  1. the risk of hacking could undermine the legitimacy of elections
  2. it threatens to turn erode its importance
45
Q

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY

What are all 6 possible reforms to UK democracy?

A
  1. compulsory voting
  2. voting to 16/17 year olds
  3. eDemocracy
  4. greater use of referenda
  5. changes to voting system
  6. constitutional reform

UK Politics (5 decks)

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