Assessments of UK democracy Flashcards
Participation crisis: elections
Voter turnout in UK general elections hovers around 68%, and is yet to reach the average between 1945 and 97 which was 76&
Low turnout means that the strength of the mandate of governments is put into question
Political apathy, lack of awareness of interest in political issues
Participation Crisis: Party Membership
1.6% of the electorate now belongs to a political party, compared to 3.8% in 1983
Less traditional political involvement could be associated with a negative perception of MPs, due to various scandals and promises being broken
No participation crisis: elections
-Scottish independence and Brexit referendum had turnouts of 84.6% and 72.2% respectively
-Alternative viewpoint is ‘hapathy’, suggesting people are content and therefore don’t push for change. This may explain the low voter turnout in 2001 and 2005 when the economy was booming, however does not explain 2010
No participation crisis: other methods
-Pressure group membership has increased
-Demonstrations have been well attended on issues such as Iraq, Brexit and the climtate. Suggests people feel conventional politics does not suffice and have turned to direct action
-E-petitions regularly receive hundreds of thousands of signatures, e.g. Revoke Article 50 petition 5.5m signatures
Proposed reforms to improve participation
-Changing day of election from Thursday to the weekend
-Allowing people to vote anywhere in a constituency as opposed to a polling station
-Allowing voting to take place over several days
-E-voting, however has been criticized due to risks of cyberattacks
Democratic deficit
-‘A perceived deficiency in the way a particular democratic body works, especially in terms of accountability and control over policy-making’
-Some argue that in the UK, decisions are taken too often by those with too little democratic basis and accountability
Positive democratic features of UK
-Devolved governments as well as elected mayors allow decisions to be made closer to the people, as does the use of referendums
-Independent judiciary
-Free media, politically neutral broadcast media and free access to the internet
Arguments for democratic deficit
-FPTP
-House of Lords is unelected, can still exercise power and halt bills proposed by Commons
-Lack of protection for citizens’ rights. Human Rights Act 1998 is inadequate due to parliamentary sovereignty
-Control of sections of the media why wealthy, unaccountable business interests
-MPs can be seen as self-serving rather than public servants, MPs going into lobbying after politics
