1. Democracy and participation Flashcards
Democracy
Rule by the people or ‘people power’.
Representative democracy
Where citizens elect representatives to formulate legislation and take other decisions on their behalf.
Liberal democracy
a style of democracy incorporating free and fair elections with a belief in the importance of certain key rights and responsibilities.
Liberal democracies extend the right to vote (the franchise) widely among citizens. They guarantee freedom of speech and allow the people to assemble and petition for the redress of grievances.
Totalitarian democracy
where citizens of a given state are granted the right to vote but are unable to choose between candidates representing parties other than the one in power.
Totalitarian democracies are ‘top-down’; citizens are not allowed any real input into the policymaking process.
Majoritarian democracy
where the government is based on the majority support of those who inhabit a given territory.
This form of democracy has the potential to see minorities marginalised and excluded from the policy-making process.
Consensual democracy
where there is a conscious effort to reach out in a more inclusive way to all groups within a given territory as opposed to simply seeking to carry the support of a majority.
Parliamentary democracy
where the executive part of government is drawn from the elected legislature and is, in turn, accountable to it.
Consultative or participatory democracy
where a more conventional representative democracy incorporates elements of direct democracy — such as public inquiries, referendums, citizens’ assemblies or elements of e-democracy — with a view to engaging the broader citizenry in the policy-making process
Pluralist democracy
a system of government that encourages participation and allows for free and fair competition between competing interests
characteristics of a pluralist democracy…
there will be a diverse range of competing interests there will be numerous access points — points of leverage where pressure groups can exert influence no single group will be able to exclude any other from the political process
Direct democracy
Where citizens are given a direct input into the decision-making process
Referendum
A vote on a single issue put to a public ballot by the government of the day. Referendums offer a degree of direct democracy. They are generally framed in the form of a simple ‘yes/no’ question
Initiative
A process by which citizens can call a referendum, normally by collecting a predetermined number of signatures on a petition.
Recall
A device that allows citizens to unseat an elected official before the end of their term in office
The Electoral Commission’s ‘Question Assessment Guidelines’ The question should
- prompt an immediate response
- be well structured
- reflect the language used and understood by the voter
- be consistent
The Electoral Commission’s ‘Question Assessment Guidelines’ The question should not
- have positive or negative connotations. lead voters in a particular direction. be loaded.
- contain ‘jargon’. provide more information than is necessary to answer the question meaningfully.
- be longer than necessary
Political culture
The ideas, beliefs and attitudes that shape political behaviour within a given area. It describes the way in which citizens collectively view the political system and their status and role within it.
Homogeneity
the belief that citizens shared a common heritage and identity; a sense of togetherness that transcended what divided them
Consensus
where UK citizens accepted the basic ‘rules of the game’.
These rules include the need for
- toleration,
- pragmatism,
- peaceful negotiation and
- compromise
Deference
the idea that people deferred to an elite that was regarded as being ‘born to rule’, that there was a natural willingness to accept an ingrained, class-based inequality and a rigid social hierarchy.
Political participation
Collectively refers to the range of ways in which citizens can involve themselves in the political process
Franchise
The franchise is the right to vote as established by parliamentary statute. The vast majority of adult UK citizens have the right to vote.
Turnout
The percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot in a given election
Legitimacy
The legal right or authority to exercise power. A government claims legitimacy as a result of the mandate it secures at a general election.
Mandate
The doctrine of the mandate gives the governing party the authority to pursue its stated policies but does not require it to do so or prevent it from introducing proposals not included in its manifesto
Mandate explained
The doctrine of the mandate gives the governing party the authority to pursue its stated policies but does not require it to do so or prevent it from introducing proposals not included in its manifesto
Mandate example
In its 1997 general election manifesto, New Labour promised both to remove the rights of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords and to move towards a more democratic and more representative second chamber.
It largely delivered on the first of these pledges with the House of Lords Act (1999).
Differential turnout
Where the national turnout figure recorded at a given election masks differences in turnout by constituency or by region.
factors which account for differential turnout
- how marginal an individual seat or election is (is there a chance to make a real change?)
- the electoral system in operation (do people think that their vote will count?)
- local or national issues and controversies the ‘intensity’ of the campaign media attention (lesser or greater media activity in one constituency or in a given election may affect turnout)
Political apathy
A state of passivity or indifference towards political institutions and their associated processes — linked to a decline in political participation
‘Hapathy’
the idea that voters may abstain from voting as a result of happiness with (as opposed to indifference towards) the way in which they are being governed
Canvassing
Where local party activists go from door to door in an effort to assess (i.e. canvass) the strength of support and win over floating voters.
Participation crisis
The view that declining levels of political participation in the UK threaten to undermine its democratic systems.
POWER inquiry
An inquiry from 2006 into the state of political participation in the UK initiated by the Joseph Rowntree Trust.
The inquiry resulted in the publication of the POWER Report: Power to the People: The Report of POWER — An Independent Inquiry into Britain’s Democracy.
Recommendations of the POWER inquir
- A rebalancing of power away from the executive and unaccountable bodies towards parliament and local government.
- The introduction of greater responsiveness and choice into the electoral and party systems.
- Allowing citizens a much more direct and focused say over political decisions and policies.
Subsidiarity
The principle that decisions should be taken at the lowest tier of government possible.
e-democracy
The greater use of the internet, mobile phones and other electronic media as a means of enhancing the operation of existing political institutions and processes, and encouraging greater political participation
e-democracy top-down
initiatives by the government, or local authorities, often with the goals of lowered costs, or increased efficiency, transparency and convenience
e-democracy bottom-up
initiated by citizens and activists at the grassroots level.
These generally aim to increase transparency, accountability or convenience as well as to inform, educate and campaign
e-democracy one-way processes
dissemination of information from the government to citizen
