6. Democracy and participation Flashcards
1
Q
What is democracy?
A
a system of government in which the people have ultimate power - power of the people
2
Q
What is direct democracy?
A
- A system of democracy in which the people make decisions, not the government
3
Q
What is representative democracy?
A
- A system of democracy in which people can vote for elected representatives who make decisions on the peoples behalf
4
Q
What are the features of Democracy?
A
- representation
- accountability
- legitimacy
- rule of law
- elections
- smooth transition of power
- civil rights
- education and imformation
5
Q
What are the advantages of direct democracy?
A
- people can participate directly in the decision making
- the wishes of the people cannot be ignored by their elected representatives
- people can be motivated to become well informed about political issues
6
Q
What are the disadvantages of direct democracy?
A
- Public may not fully understand the question they are voting on - elected representatives might be better placed to analyse and evaluate the issue
- majority of people may vote for somthing that undermines the rights of a minority group
- people may vote for short term reasons instead of considering the long run
7
Q
What are the advatnage of representative democracy?
A
- the people cannot be expected to have the time or interest to make important and regular decisions
- representatives can educate the public on political issues
- representatives ensure the interests of all sections of society (including minorities) are taken into account, and can be held accountable for their decisions
- representatives are able to ‘aggregate’ the differing demands of people into a more coherent and politically logical programme
8
Q
What are the disadvantages of representative democracy?
A
- representatives may distort peoples’ demands to suit their political preferences
- representatives may not make make themselves accountable enough between elections and can only be removed by elections if they lose the respect of the people
- the electoral mandate of representatives is flawed, as voters have to accept or reject a whole manifesto, not being able to make clear which parts of it they oppose, and there is more information in this day and age for people to be able to make better decisions
- representatives also have to decide whether to be ‘delegates’ for their constituents, merely putting forward their view, or using their best judgement to ‘represent’ their constituents (a concept called ‘Burkean representation’)
9
Q
What is participation?
A
- Peoples involvement in political activity
10
Q
Is there a participation crisis? - yes
A
- turnout in GE has fallen in recent decades 1950 more than 80% of electorate voted 2001 59% of the electorate voted
- some elections had even worse turnout 2012 police and crime commissioner 15% voted
- Party membership has fallen since 1950s when the conservatives had more than 2.5M and Labour had 1M. 2018 Conservatives had 124,000
- Partisan dealignment - people feel no party affiliation
- trade unions have fewer members
- political apathy 18-24 show less politically engaged
11
Q
Is there a participation crisis? - no
A
- Turnout in GE has been rising since 2001, 69% 2017
- turnout in recent referendum has also been high - 85% 2014 Scottish independence referendum. 72% EU referendum
- the contrast between the PCC elections and the EU and Scottish referendum shows that the electorate is selective - if people care about an issue they will participate
- membership of some parties are increasing - Lab - 400,000 members 2022
- Pressure groups have increased
- social media and the internet have changed the nature of political participation
12
Q
What suggestions are there to increase participation?
A
- votes at 16
- online voting
- compulsory voting
- increasingly political education in schools
- reducing the membership fees of political parties
- more direct democracy
