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Politics > 1.1 - 1.2 > Flashcards

1.1 - 1.2 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the advantages of Direct Democracy?

A
  • only form of pure democracy
  • creates better informed and more knowledgable citizens
  • reduces, or removes, the public’s independence on self serving politicians
  • ensures that rule is legitimate and that people are more likely to accept decisions they have made themselves
  • ensures that government is legitimate
  • reduces/removes the publics dependence on self serving professional politicians
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2
Q

What are the disadvantages of Direct democracy

A
  • only achievable in relatively small communities
  • all people have to dedicate time they may not have to politics
  • not a sensible way to make complex decisions
  • can create deep decisions in society
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3
Q

what are the disadvantages of representative democracy?

A
  • gulf between the government and the people
  • votes are so infrequent people can switch off from politics
  • places too much faith in politicians who could distort public perception with their own views
  • voter turnout is low and people feel increasingly disengaged from politicians
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4
Q

What are the advantages of representative democracy?

A
  • only form of democracy that can operate in large modern societies
  • puts design making in the hands of people with better education and experience
  • helps people to accept compromise as so detached from government
  • relives ordinary citizens of the day to day decision making
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5
Q

What are the 4 key democratic principles?

A
  • legitimacy
  • accountability
  • consent
  • representation
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6
Q

What is the best turnout for UK general election in the last 100 years?

A

1950 - 83%

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7
Q

What is the lowest turnout in a UK general election in the past 100 years?

A

2001 - 59.4%

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8
Q

What is the region with the best turnout in the UK general elections?

A

South West (2009)

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9
Q

What is the region with the lowest turn out in the UK general elections?

A

Northern Ireland (2019)

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10
Q

What are the key principles of democracy?

A
  • Legitimacy
  • Accountability
  • Consent
  • Representation
  • Participation
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11
Q

What are the strengths of the UK governments legitimacy?

A
  • FPTP system produces government with a clear mandate to govern
  • Pressure groups help to give legitimacy to political decisions
  • House of lords has limited legitimacy
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12
Q

What are the weaknesses of the UK Governments Legitimacy?

A
  • FPTP lacks legitimacy because of the tendency to reward the winning party with more seats than they are entitled to
  • Some argue that pressure groups use methods that negate legitimate political action
  • The house of lords are appointed not elected
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13
Q

What are the strengths of the UK governments accountability?

A
  • Parliament had effective methods of scrutiny that check the power of the UK government
  • Election systems hold those who have held power to account
  • Free media scrutinises those in power
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14
Q

What are the weaknesses of the UK governments Accountability?

A
  • The government through its majority in the house of commons neutralised the effectiveness of any scrutiny - parliament is seen as weak
  • Election system lacks necessary means of holding account due to their safe seats and multi member
  • Print media is owned by a few powerful people who are criticised for distorting conversation on politics
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15
Q

What are the strengths of the UK governments consent?

A
  • elections allows for voters to express their views and have them heard
  • Referendums had added an extra direct layer of consent to constitutional reforms
  • New democratic methods such as citizens assembly’s and E- Petitions
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16
Q

What are the weaknesses in the UKs governments Consent?

A
  • election systems are criticised for results they produce and questions are raised about how much real consent is given
  • referendums have complicated the system and can further non participation
  • new democratic methods are merely advisory and the government can often
    ignore them
    -
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17
Q

What are the strengths of the UK governments representation?

A
  • elected institutions represent citizens across the UK in terms of politics, issues and descriptive representation (they mirror society)
  • media represents the views of the public to politicians
  • pressure groups can be i’ve a voice to the voiceless
  • political parties through their party programmes reflect the road wishes of the public
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18
Q

What are the weaknesses of the UK governments representation?

A
  • elected institutions often criticised as being ‘out of touch’ and not directly representative
  • print media is accused of representation a narrow range of political views and therefore distorting the views of the their opponents
  • not all pressure groups are heard
  • political parties are accused of being too similar in their policies
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19
Q

What are the strengths of the UK governments participation?

A
  • elections enable citizens to engage and turnouts have been increasing in recent years
  • referendums and new democratic methods have given citizens further opportunities to get involved
  • pressure groups and parties allow citizens to join through memberships
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20
Q

What are the weaknesses of the UK governments Participation?

A
  • Turnouts in second order elections and low and lower than it used to be
  • Referendums have had both high and low turnouts
  • e petitions have low level participation and effort required
  • pressure groups and parties have a lot of members who don’t participate
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21
Q

What are the strengths of free and fair elections in representative democracy?

A
  • Very little fraud
  • campaign rules are strictly applied to ensure parties have a fair chance to be heard
  • elections are fair as they offer lots of choice to bothers and produce repetitive outcomes
  • FPTP produces governments with a clear mandate to govern
  • relatively easy to register to vote in the UK
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22
Q

What are the weaknesses of free and fair elections in representative democracy?

A
  • some concerns over how secure postal voting is
  • two main parties have a huge advantage in terms of funding and access to media and advertising
  • PR and FPTP argue that the elections lack fairness
  • New unfair voter ID rules
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23
Q

What are the strengths of universal suffrage in representative democracy?

A
  • All 18+ year olds shave the right to vote
  • Scotland and Wales have widened the franchise to 16*
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24
Q

What are the weaknesses to Universal sufferance in representative democracy?

A
  • not all have to right invite as prisoners excluded (ins spite of the european court judgement against blanket ban
  • 16 year olds in england and northern ireland cannot vote
  • Voter ID and self registration is a means to disenfranchise some voters
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25
Q

What are the advantages of choice of competing political programmes in UK representative democracy?

A
  • Range of parties offerings wide range of policy options to voters
  • The main parties are not ideologically similar and so present alternate platforms for government
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26
Q

What are the weaknesses of choice of competing political programmes in the UKs representative democracy?

A
  • elections systems (especially FPTP) migrate against smaller parties who simply struggle to gain electoral representation
  • 2 main parties are seen as too similar
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27
Q

What are the weaknesses pressure groups in the UKs representative democracy?

A
  • political pluralism exists in the fact that there are over 700 organisations seen as pressure groups
  • new forms of democratic engagement ( referendums/ citizens assemblies and e petitions) have widened the conversation in the UK
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28
Q

What are the weaknesses of pressure groups and pluralism in the UKs representative democracy?

A
  • political elitism is the reality either a small number is economically strategically important groups having close inside influence in government
  • new forms of democratic engagement are still minority sports and government is not obliged to listen or take actuon
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29
Q

What are the strengths of the UK representative democracy’s ability to provide basic rights and freedoms?

A
  • existance of the human rights act (1998) ensures that government, parliament and the courts uphold basic freedoms
  • process of judicial review allows individuals and groups to challenge the decision of government in order to protect rights
  • media act as a further check on encroachment by the state on rights
  • media act as a further check on encroachment by the state on rights
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30
Q

What are the disadvantages regarding basic rights and freedoms in the UK representative democracy?

A
  • Human rights act is not entrenched and can theoretically be easily repealed and replaced
  • Plaiamneg passed laws that restrict individual rights
  • courts are limited in the power meets in terms of their judgement and have now powers of enforcement
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31
Q

What are the advantages of representative democracy?

A
  • more effective as ordinary citizens are relived of day to day burden of making key decisions
  • onto practice form of democracy that can operate in large complex societies
  • representatives offer choice of running things through competing programmes via political parties
  • minority rights are better protected
  • elections are a means of holding office holder to account
  • government is by experts as political dare well educated and are better informed
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32
Q

What are the advantages of direct democracy?

A
  • improves political education
  • develops sense of community
  • political equality is achieved ~ all votes are equal weight
  • works in switzerland where they use regular referendums
  • encourages popular participation in politics
  • removed need for professional political as people can take responsibility for their own decisions
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33
Q

What are the disadvantages of representative democracy?

A
  • may lead to reduced participation
  • parties and pressure groups may be run by elites who try and push their own agenda
  • minorities may still find themselves underrepresented as politicians are more likely to follow the views of the majority to secure election
  • politicians are skinful in avoiding accountability ~ elections 5 years apart
  • political a may be corrupt or distant
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34
Q

What are the disadvantages of direct democracy?

A
  • impractical in large heavily populated societies
  • emotional responses and short term decisions
  • many will not want to go or not feel qualified to take part in the decision
  • open to manipulation by the cleverest and most articulate speakers
  • tyranny of the majority
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35
Q

How much has party membership fallen since the 1969

A

less than one quarter of the 1964 levels

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36
Q

What is the best example of a good turnout in a UK general election

A

1950 - 83.9%

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37
Q

What is the best example for lowest turnout in a UK general election?

A

2001 - 59.4%

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38
Q

What is the region in the UK that had best turnout in UK general elections?

A

South west (2019) - 72%

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39
Q

What is the region with the lowest turnout at UK general elections?

A

Northern Ireland (2019) - 61.8%

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40
Q

What is the best turnout for a devolved administration election?

A

1998 Northen Ireland Assembly (68.7%)

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41
Q

What is the lowest turnout for devolved administration election?

A

2003 Senedd Cymru 38.1% (regional)

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42
Q

Best local election turnout?

A

Orrell (England) 60.6% 2021

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43
Q

Lowest UK local election turnout?

A

Marfleet 14.6% 2021

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44
Q

Age group that has the highest turnout

A

2017 - 65+ (85.2%)

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45
Q

Age group with lowest turnout

A

2005 18-24 year olds (38.2%)

46
Q

True/False - UK general turnouts have the highest average of all elections in the UK

A

True

47
Q

True or False - Local elections have a high average turnout than devolved assembly elections

A

False

48
Q

True or False - UK general election turnouts have increased for the last 5 elections

A

False

49
Q

True or false - Voters in south and south east of the UK tend to vote on average in the higher numbers than the north?’

A

T

50
Q

True or False - Labour holds seats in constituency with the lowest average turnout’s at general elections

A

True

51
Q

True or False - For devolved assemblies Welsh voters are the most enthusiastic on average

A

F

52
Q

True or False - Young and old tend to vote in similar numbers as a proportion of those in their age group eligible to vote

A

False

53
Q

The strongest evidence for there being a participation crisis with respect to voting in the UK can be found…

A

in the lack of voting and accessibility for people with low income is causing a lesser variety of people to take part in elections

54
Q

Give three examples that show that there is a problem with representation of women in members of political parties

A

Conservative - 29%
Lib Dem - 37%
Labour - 47%

51% of UK population is women

55
Q

Has party memebershio across all parties fallen consistently year in year?

A

No - rise in green, lib dem and labour in 2015

56
Q

How is there a representation crisis in membership in political parties in regards to class

A

Percentage of people from ABC1 social class grades in:
Lib Dem’s - 85%
Conservative - 83%
Labour - 77%

57
Q

Is party membership a young persons game?

A

No - Average age of member:
- Conservative = 54 years old
- Labour = 54 years old
- Lib Dem’s = 51 years old

58
Q

What are the rough membership party members numbers as of 2022

A

Labour - 432,000
Conservatives - 172,000
SNP - 104,000
Lib Dem - 74,000
SNP - 72,000
Green - 54,000
Plaid Cymru - 10,000

59
Q

Why was the turnout at the 2024 general election significant?

A
  • Turnout was 59.7% which was the lowest at a general election since 2001
  • Turnout was 7.6% lower than the 2019 general election
60
Q

What was the lowest constituency turnout in the 2024 election?

A

40% - Manchester Rushmore (lowest since South Staffordshire in 2005 at 37.2%)

61
Q

In the lowest turnout contsituency, who is being voted for?

A

17/20 Labour

62
Q

Where are the top 20 lowest turnout constituencies?

A

3/4 - Northwest, Yorkshire, West Midlands

63
Q

What are the different types of participation?

A
  • Individualistic
  • Collective
  • Contract Participation
64
Q

What are examples of Individual Actions?

A
  • donating money to a pressure group or political party
  • Voting in an election
  • Sign petition/ e-petition
65
Q

What is a statistic in regaurds to Individual actions?

A

Signing a petition rose from 34% to 48% in 2019

66
Q

What are examples of collective action?

A
  • Attended political meeting or rally
  • Took part in public demonstration
  • Formed a party or pressure group
  • Took part in a strike
67
Q

Give a statistic on the UK’s participation in regaurds to collective action

A
68
Q

Give an example of Contact Action

A
  • contacted a politician
  • contacted local authority
  • contacted the media
69
Q

Give a statistic of the UKs participation in Contact Action

A
70
Q

Define Slacktivism

A

Refers to a half-harted from of activism usually by posting links, comments, images in support of a cuase without further action

71
Q

Define Clicktivism

A

Refers to the sure of social media and other online methods to promote a cause simply by clicking on an endorsemnent or signature button

72
Q

What are the key drivers of political disengagement?

A
  • Scandals such as MPs ecpenses crisis in 2009
  • Failure of politicians to deal with crises like Brexit/COVID/Cost of Living
  • The Election system FPTP (Wasted votes/Safe seats/Tactical Voting)
73
Q

What is an example of Britons having no confidence in politicans?

A
  • 45% would ‘almost never’ trust british governments of any arty to place the needs before their own in 2024
  • 79% beleive the present system of governeing could be improved ‘quite alot’ or ‘a great deal’ in 2024
  • 58% would ‘almost never’ trust politicans to tell the truth in 2024
74
Q

What is the evidance that supports that conidence has fallen amoungst Leave Voters?

A
  • 48% of those who voted leave say they would ‘almost never’ trust governments in 2024 even higher than the 40% in 2019
  • 60% of leave voters ‘almost never’ trust governmennts in 2024 matching the 61% in 2019
75
Q

What is the evidance trust and confidence have been undermined by some of the policy challenges facing government

A

72% of thse who are struggling finantially ‘almost never’ trust politicians, compared with 49% of those living comfortably

76
Q

What are the key features of democracy?

A
  • consent
  • legitimacy
  • representation
  • accountability
77
Q

Define Manifesto

A

a document that outlines (in more or less detail) the policies or programme a party intends to intricuced if elected

78
Q

Define mandate

A

An instruction or command that gives authority to a person or body to act in a particular way; a mandate thereofre onfers legitimacy on a political actor

79
Q

What are the strengths of the doctrine of the mandate?

A
  • Grants clear authority to an incoming government and so strengthens its legitimacy
  • it allows parliament and the voters to judge the performance of the government
  • demonstrates clearly when a governemnt may be overstepping its elective authority
80
Q

What are the weakness of the docterine of the mandate?

A
  • parties in the UK today are always elected with less than 50% of the popular vote, so their mandate can be called into question
  • those who voted for the governeing party do not necessarily support all its manifesto commitments
  • it is not clear whether the government has a mandate to carry out policies not contained in its last manifesto
81
Q

How are people in government held accountable?

A
  • Questions to ministers in the prime ministers question time
  • Debates in the chamber and in westminster hall
  • Committes
  • The media
  • Pressure Groups
82
Q

What are the key forms of represntation in UK democracy?

A
  • Constituencies
  • Political parties
  • Government representation
  • Pressure groups
83
Q

Who is excluded from having a vote in parliamentary elections in the UK?

A
  • people under the age of 18
  • EU citizens (apart from irish republic) - EU citixens can vote in local elections.
  • members of the house of lords
  • the monarch
  • prisoners
  • those conviced of a corrupt or illegal electoral practice (banned for 5 years)
  • people who are compulsorily detained in a phsyciatric hospital
84
Q

What was the most significant development fron the 1832 Great Reform Act?

A
  • extended the franchise to 800,000 people (6%)
  • create seats that represented new cities
  • disbanded rotten boroughs
85
Q

WHat developments are acheived through both the 2nd great reform act (1867) and the Third Great Reform act 1887?

A

2nd:
- 2% more men to polls
- reforming constituency boundaries

3rd:
- extended vote to all working men
- size of electorate increated > 5.5 million

86
Q

What year did women gain equal rights to vote?

A

1928

87
Q

When was the voting age reduced from 18-21?

A

1969

88
Q

What are reasons for the vote being reduced to 16

A
  • in Scotland, in 2014, 75% of 16-18 year olds voted (the highest number since 1992)
  • 16 year olds already have many responsibilities
  • politics would have to listen to young people more
  • adults are not nessesarily more aware/educated
89
Q

What are reasons against the voting age being reduced to 16 years old.

A
  • the rights of 16-18 year olds still remain limited
  • lack of education in politics
  • no evidance that reducing the voting age would lead to increased voting turnout
  • low turnout amoungst 18-24 year olds
90
Q

What are the reasons for allowing prisoners to vote?

A
  • vast majority are in for a short time for a non violent crime
  • Most prisoners will return to society
91
Q

What are the reasons against allowing prisoners to vote?

A
  • convicted prisoners are not a part of society
  • when breaking the law, prisoners rights should be stripped from them
92
Q

What are the reasons for making the vote compulsory?

A
  • voters are not obligated to vote for one of the candidates if they consisentiuallu cannot do so – it would still be legal to spoil the vote
  • politicians would have to run better campaigns and governments would have to frame their campaigns with the whole electorate in mind
93
Q

What are the reasons against compulsory voting?

A
  • condidates could vote randomly to take less time/effort
  • dousnt adress the deeper reaons why people decide to not vote
94
Q

Why was it felt nessesary to introduce voter ID to uk elections?

A

‘Fear or voter fraud’
- 2017 there were 28 cases of voter fraud (0.0004% of voters)

95
Q

What evidence is there to support the reason for introducing voter ID?

A
  • politicians cant blame loss on fraud
  • maintain validity, legitimacy and integrity
  • use ID for alot of other things
96
Q

What are the arguments supporting voter ID?

A
  • preventing voter fraud and creating more trust and integrety in the system
97
Q

What are the arguments against voter ID?

A
  • can become inaccessable
  • 0.08% couldnt vote because no ID (16,000)
  • 1 in 1200 turned away
  • 76% ethnic minorities and 71% 18-24 year olds werent aware of the new legistration
98
Q

What is deliberative democracy?

A

A form of democracy in which deliberation is central to desision making

99
Q

What is a citizens assembely?

A

When a randomly selected group of citizens meet on regular occasions to lern, discuss and decide on proposals based on their disscusions to advise and deliberate with the government

100
Q

Why are citizens assemblys not a form of deliberative democracy?

A

Because they have no policy making power and their decisions are just advisory

101
Q

What did the Citizens’s Assembly on brexit say about citizens assemblies?

A
102
Q

What are the advantages of citizens assembelies?

A
  • allows people to be heard and politicans to listen and to do their jobs better
  • has helped to solve some difficult political issues such as legalisng abortion in ireland
  • desicions are still in the hands of elected politicans
  • feedback from those who have done it has been posative so far
  • public can give insight to policy from a unique perspective
103
Q

What are the disadvantages of citizens assemeblies?

A
  • citizens lack the knowledge of professional politicians and may over-rely on the veiws of the experts
  • not everyone can give the time and expense
  • if no action taken it could increase the sense of powerlessness in politics
  • small sample may not be representative
  • relativley expensive
104
Q

Define e-democarcy

A

The use of computer-based technoligies to enhance citizens’ engagement in democratic processes

105
Q

What are some examples of e-democracy?

A
  • online voting
  • online petitions
  • e cambaigning
  • webistes, blogs, vlogs
  • social media
106
Q

Give an example of the public using e-democracy

A
  • e-petition in 2011 calling for the release of the documents relating to the Hillsbrough football disaster of 1989
  • 139,000 signatures
  • inquest was launched by the government and the deaths were ruled unlawful
107
Q

How have ‘38-degrees’ been sucessfull in e-democracy?

A
  • persuading the UK’s largest tea bag manafactuer to remove plastics from their tea bags
  • persuaded durham county council to block authorisation of a new open-cast coal mine
  • secured a U-turn on government plants to cut funding for womens refuges
108
Q

How have ‘38 degrees’ received critisism?

A

Their pesistant emailing and campaigning has caused members of the house of commons and lords to become annoyed and is resulting in their work being ‘distrupted’

109
Q

What are reasons for e-democracy?

A
  • easier participation
  • acess to information
  • ease of organisations
  • power to the people
110
Q

What are the reasons against e-democracy?

A
  • electoral mispractice
  • clicktivism
  • digital divide
  • anti-democratic forces
111
Q
A

Politics (4 decks)

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