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Politics > 1.1 democracy and participation > Flashcards

1.1 democracy and participation Flashcards

1
Q

Advantages of direct democracy?

A
  • More representation - equal weight to votes.
  • More participation as you will be better heard
  • Removes need or trusted individuals (stop corruption?)
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2
Q

Disadvantages of direct democracy

A
  • Takes a long time (less efficient gov)
  • Voter fatigue (a lot of decisions to make)
  • Open to manipulation by cleverest/most articulate speakers
  • Minority viewpoints disregarded (majoritarian system), tyranny of majority
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3
Q

Advantages of representative democracy

A
  • Efficient for policy making
  • Parties represent public, give them a voice
  • Reduces chances of tyranny of majority
  • Elections allow representatives to be held to account
  • politicians are better informed to not swayed by emotional appeas
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4
Q

Disadvantages of representative democracy

A
  • Elected body may not fully represent people’s views
  • Minority’s voices too important?
  • Politicians may put their parties interests before the people, betray election promises
  • 2010 Lib Dem didn’t follow manifesto promise to scrap tuition fees (coalition with con)
  • with FPTP representatives often chosen with less than 50% of vote
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5
Q

Reasons for democratic reform in UK?

A
  • Low turnout (65% in 2010 election) participation crisis
  • FPTP makes for a two party system + unrepresented minorities
  • HoL unelected so no democratic legitimacy
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6
Q

Name recent important referendums

A
  • Brexit (2016)
  • Scottish Independence (2014)
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7
Q

Voter Turnout 2019

A
  • 67%
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8
Q

Voter turnout 2001

A
  • 59%
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9
Q

2016 - Percentage of electorate that was a member of a political party?

A
  • 1.6%
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10
Q

Labour Party members 2016

A
  • around 500 000
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11
Q

Conservative Party members 2016

A
  • just under 150 000
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12
Q

Argument against participation crisis

A
  • Direct action is more popular
  • Pressure groups
  • Protests
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13
Q

YES to compulsory voting?

A
  • Produce more representative Parliament
  • Politicians will have to cater to whole of electorate
  • People can still spoil ballot or not choose a candidate
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14
Q

NO to compulsory voting

A
  • Donkey voting
  • Undemocratic to force ppl to vote
  • Not address issues that make ppl not want to vote in first place
  • wouldn’t stop politicians ignoring safe seats ad focusing campaigns on marginal seats
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15
Q

Women enfranchisement?

A
  • 1918 - Women over 30
  • 1928 - Equal voting rights
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16
Q

YES to Votes at 16?

A
  • 16 yo have other legal rights like join army and leave school, why not vote
  • 75% of 16-17 year olds voted in indyref (more participation)
  • Issues often affect them, e.g tuition fees
  • social media has granted political awareness to youth, they led recent movements like Fridays for Future climate strikes
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17
Q

NO to Votes at 16?

A
  • Few are actually in full time work
  • 18-25 has lowest turnout, why would 16-17 be different
  • Too young, lack life experience, still children
  • know little about politics. And would misuse the right to vote
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18
Q

What is a sectional group? Examples?

A
  • Group that seeks to promote interests of specific group in society
  • e.g Trade unions
  • Membership often limited to ppl with certain qualifications/expertise
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19
Q

What is a cause group? Any examples?

A
  • Seeks to achieve certain goal on specific issue
  • Greenpeace on environmental issues
  • Many are also charities - e.g Oxfam
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20
Q

Factors effecting pressure group influence

A
  • Resources
  • Tactics + Leadership
  • Public support
  • Gov attitude
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21
Q

Think tank example

A
  • Centre for Social Justice
  • Set up by IDS in 2004
  • Produced ideas used in 2010 for universal credit
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22
Q

Human Rights milestones

A
  • Magna Carta (1215)
  • Bill of Rights (1689)
  • Human Rights Act (1998)
  • Equality Act (2010)?
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23
Q

What did magna carta do

A
  • Limits on royal power, king no longer above the law
  • Established right of trial by jury
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24
Q

What did equality act 2010 do?

A
  • Made it illegal to discriminate on sex, race, religion, etc
  • Codified previous acts on discrimination into one Act
25
Q

Recall of MPs Act 2015

A
  • if MP suspended from commons or go to jail for over 1 days
  • if 10% of constituents. For thatMP sign petition, by-election is called
  • example of direct democracy
26
Q

Similarities between direct and representative democracy?

A
  • implement will of the people on concept of majority rule
  • both implemented at diff levels of gov (local, regional,national)
  • in both cases people can be swayed by clever individuals
27
Q

Differences between direct and representative democracy?

A
  • D: individuals express opinions themselves (R: political parties s medium)
  • D citizens more involved in decision making
  • R: gov elected, held accountable by the people
  • R: protection of minority (D: rule of majority)
28
Q

There is a participation crisis. (Elections)

A
  • Voter turnout hovering around 68%, much less than between 1945 and 1997 which was at around 76%
  • Turnout even lower in second order elections and referendums like for devolved bodies and councils
  • Low turnout calls strength of mandate into question
29
Q

There is a participation crisis (party membership)

A
  • only around 1.6% of electorate belongs to a political party (3.8% in 1983)
  • Con party has just under 150,000 members by 2016 (400,000 mid 1990s)
  • negative perception of MPs? Various scandals and broken promises?
30
Q

No participation crisis (elections)

A
  • 2014 Scottish independence referendum turnout of 85%
  • 2016 EU referendum turnout of 72%
  • ‘hapathy’ ppl are content and dont need to push for change
31
Q

No participation crisis (party membership)

A
  • surge in Labour Party membership 2015 (ed Milliband ade it possible to join for £3), party over 540,000
  • after Indyref1, membership of SNP went up (125,000 members in April 2018, Scotland only has 5M ppl)
  • public uses political parties as vehicle for political action
32
Q

No participation crisis (other forms of participation)

A
  • pressure group membership increase
    -lots of demonstrations (e,g Iraq war, brexit,climate crisis), conventional politics have let people down and they are turning to new modes of expression
  • social media
  • e-petitions (revoke article 50 petition of march 2019 has over 6M signatures)
33
Q

1918 Representation of the People Act

A
  • 75% of pop could now vote
  • all men over 21 and all women over 30 (who were householders or wives of house holders)
34
Q

How do the e-petitions work

A
  • 10,000 signatures = response from gov
  • 100,000 signatures + backed by MP = considered for debate in Parliament
35
Q

What is a pressure group?

A

-group that seeks to influence politics to achieve particular goal
- do not seek political office
- crucial to pluralist democracy

36
Q

What are social movements? Key examples?

A
  • usually seek to achieve single goal
  • usually protests
  • Fridays for Future Climate Marches by schoolchildren (started by Greta Thunberg)
  • BLM 2020
  • anti-Iraq War protests 2003 (started by Stop the War Coalition), had around 750,000 demonstrators
37
Q

Insider group methods?

A
  • lobbying
  • negotiate with private contacts
  • National Farmers Union give Con expertise in return for influence over policy
38
Q

Outsider group methods?

A
  • Social media campaigns
  • Protests
  • legal challenges against policies they disagree with (Countryside Alliance took case against banning of hunting to High Court in 2004 and failed)
  • Trade unions go on strike
39
Q

Stonewall successes?

A
  • Case in European Court of Human Rights for banning homosexuality in armed forces and won (High Court and Court of Appeal said no previously)
  • Making age of consent 16 in Sexual Offences Act 2000 (invoked Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 to override HoL opposition)
40
Q

Marcus Rashford’s Campaign for Free School Meals?

A
  • summer 2020, rashford teamed up with FairShare
  • presure on UK gov to extend Free School meals to summer holidays
  • used e-petitions, open letters
41
Q

Wha was Snowdrop Campaign and why was it successful?

A
  • campaign to ban use of handguns in UK
  • successful due to strong public support (they were horrified by the 1996 Dunblane Primary School massacre)
42
Q

What is a think tank?

A
  • groups of experts brought together to investigate topics and offer solutions
  • they have political leanings + strong connections to parties
43
Q

Why have think tanks been criticised?

A
  • They are filled with young people trying to use it as a springboard for political career
  • David Milliband worked for Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) at the start of his career
44
Q

What are lobbyists?

A
  • ## members of professional organisations paid by clients seeking aces and influence over gov
45
Q

Why is there unease about lobbying?

A
  • some don’t like the idea of wealthy corporations gaining influence that way
  • 2014, gov made it so that lobbyers have to register their activity with a minister or senior civil servant
46
Q

What is the ‘revolving door’?

A
  • former politicians lobby due to the connections they have
47
Q

What are rights?

A
  • Legally protected freedoms
  • ## absolute, universal, fundamental
48
Q

How were rights prior to the Human Rights Act 1998

A
  • until then, no single document setting out people’s rights
  • there were only negative rights (everything the law didn’t explicitly stop you from doing)
  • some rights protected by acts of parliament, others derived from customs/common law
49
Q

How are rights protected in the UK?

A
  • Parliamentary legislation (Equality Act, Human Rights Act)
  • Pressure groups
  • Common law (e.g presumption of innocence)
50
Q

What did Bill Of Rights do?

A
  • increased Parliament’s power
  • Limited monarchy power
51
Q

What is the Human Rights Act 1998?

A
  • passed by new labour in 1998
  • enshrined European Convention on Human Rights into UK law (rights could be defended in UK instead of Strasbourg)
52
Q

Arguments FOR HRA 1998

A
  • new legislation is made compliant with it (Joint Committee on Human Rights helps with this)
  • HRA educates citizens about their rights
53
Q

Arguments AGAINST HRA 1998

A
  • HRA stops terror suspects from being deported (favours undeserving individuals)
  • Gives unelected judges too much power
  • It is not entrenched and can still be repealed by act of parliament
54
Q

What is the Freedom Of Information Act 2000

A
  • Makes it easier for people to ask for information about the gov
  • members of public gain right to access any info held abt them by public bodies
55
Q

What is judicial review?

A
  • judge reviews lawfulness of decision made by public body
  • ultra vires case - gov has not acted beyond their power (e.g stretching secondary legislation too far)
56
Q

What was the Policing, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022

A
  • greater power to police to impose restrictions on ‘unacceptable protests’
  • accused of impeding on freedom of speech and right to protests
57
Q

How did Blaire’s gov clash with HoL following terrorist attacks in 2000s

A
  • terrorism led to gov measures that limited civil liberties to protect wider community
  • right to detain terror suspects w/o trial bc of national emergency
  • dec 2004, lords decided it was discriminatory
58
Q

Arguments that rights are well protected in the UK

A
  • Equaliy Act criminalises discrimination
  • judiciary limits gov and protects rights
  • HRA protects rights
  • HoL upholds rights
59
Q

Arguments that rights are NOT well protected in UK

A
  • COVID + counter-terrorism measures show human rights can be infringed on to protect community
  • Con gov has introduced legislation that goes against human rights
  • judicial review gives power to unelected individuals
  • HRA too weak

Politics (10 decks)

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