Chapter 1- Democracy and Participation

Question 1

Democracy

Answer 1

‘Rule by the people’ or ‘people power’. The term has its origins in the greek word dēmokratia. A union off demos (meaning the people) and kratos (meaning power)

Question 2

What countries have a single party state and why is this an issue?

Answer 2

former East Germany, North Korea and the problem is that it is undemocratic

Question 3

What is the issue with the term democracy?

Answer 3

The term demos can easily mean ‘the mob’ which means that it means a little more than ‘mob rule’ or ‘anarchy’

Question 4

What type of democracy is the UK?

Answer 4

Liberal Democracy or Representative

Question 5

Liberal Democracy

Answer 5

Incorporates free and fair election with a belief in the importance of certain key rights and responsibilities.

• extend the right to vote widely among citizens
• guarantee freedom of speech
• allow people to assemble and petition for the redress of grievances

Question 6

Totalitarian Democracy

Answer 6

Citizens of a given state are granted the right to vote but unable to choose between candidates representing the parties other than the one in power. It’s a top down system.

Question 7

Top down

Answer 7

Citizens are not allowed real input into the policy making process

Question 8

Majoritarian democracy

Answer 8

Government is based on the majority support of those who inhabit a given territory.
- Potential to see minorities marginalised and excluded from the policy making process

Question 9

Consensual democracy

Answer 9

Conscious effort to each out in a more inclusive way to all the groups within a given territory as opposed to carrying out the support of the majority

Question 10

Parliamentary democracy

Answer 10

Executive part of government is drawn from elected legislature and accountable to it

Question 11

Consultative or participatory democracy

Answer 11

Conventional representative democracy incorporates elements of direct democracy- public inquires, referendums, citizen assemblies or elements of e-democracy- they have a view to engage the broader citizenry in the policy making process

Question 12

Pluralist democracy

Answer 12

System of government that encourages participation and allows free and fair competition between competing interests

Question 13

Direct democracy

Answer 13

Origins in classical Athens 500BC where city-state’s 40,000 free men had the right to attend assembly meetings at which certain policies or actions could be approved or rejected.
- Citizens are given a direct input into the decision-making process

Question 14

New England ‘town hall meetings’

Answer 14

Town hall meetings held in new England states such as Maine and Massachusetts

Question 15

Representative democracy

Answer 15

Citizens elect individuals to represent them in a legislature and that such individuals are expected to represent the interests of their constituents until the following election. Once elected, they are free to legislate.

Question 16

What did Edmund Burke say to his Bristol constituents in 1774?

Answer 16

‘Your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgement’ then he argued ‘and he betrays you if he sacrifices it to your opinion’.

Question 17

What is a tool of direct democracy that is often used?

Answer 17

Referendums

Question 18

Examples of referendum usage

Answer 18

• [1995] Eire, legalise divorce

- [23 June 2016] Eu Referndum

Question 19

What did prime minister, Clement Attlee, describe referendums as?

Answer 19

‘Tools of demagogues and dictators’ and he concluded that it was a ‘device so alien to our tradition’

Question 20

Referendums

Answer 20

Called by those in power when they wish to legitimise a certain course of action or when they are constitutionally required to hold a referendum due to the nature of proposed changes

Question 21

Initiatives

Answer 21

Give ordinary citizens the opportunity to call a public ballot on a question of their own choosing, they collect a predetermined number of signatures on a petition and trigger a referendum

Question 22

When are referendums used in the UK?

Answer 22

No formal list of circumstances in which referendums are legally required, it’s been suggested that it provides a way of legitimising constitutional changes

Question 23

What did the former prime minister Tony Blair remark in 1995?

Answer 23

In the case of major constitutional change, there is clearly a case for that decision to be taken by the British people

Question 24

What are the five issues associated with referendums?

Answer 24

• Topic
• Wording
• Timing
• Funding
• Turnout

Question 25

Topic and referendums

Answer 25

Government only likely to announce a referendum when they are certain of securing an outcome that they desire or direct interest of going to the people

Question 26

What was the criticism that Harold Wilson received after his decision to hold a ballot over continued membership of the EEC in 1975?

Answer 26

His labour administration was deeply divided

Question 27

How did Margaret Thatcher view the 1975 ballot on continued membership of the EEC?

Answer 27

'Sacrifice parliamentary sovereignty to political expediency'

Question 28

Wording and referendums

Answer 28

Wording can often be constructed a certain response

Question 29

Wording and referendums example

Answer 29

SNP's wording for the 2014 referendums on Scottish independence: Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?

Question 30

Timing and referendums

Answer 30

When referendums are offered, scheduling them routinely delay until such a time that they believe they will secure their desired outcome. SNP

Question 31

Funding and referendums

Answer 31

Difference in funding for example at the 1975 EEC referendum, it was said that the yes campaign outspent the 'no' camp y a ration of 3 to 1

Question 32

What was the issue with the 1975 referendum and funding?

Answer 32

under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, referendums in the UK were to be state funded and each receiving a £600,000 public grant

Question 33

Turnout and referendums

Answer 33

Turnout at referendums are low. The turnout between eleven referendums called by Westminster parliament between 1973 and 2011 averaged to just 54.1%amp;

Question 34

When did the regional referendum that allowed directly elected mayor of London and a 25-member assembly take place?

Answer 34

1998

Question 35

Sum up the Mayor of Hartlepool case study

Answer 35

H'angus the Monkey was the mayor of Hartlepool in 2002. How could somebody that campaigned to give free bananas to school children be in charge of £106 million municipal budget. Referendum in November 2012 saw voters approve of abolishing H'angus te Monkey effective immediately from May 2013

Question 36

Congestion Charge

Answer 36

Ken Livingstone, the first mayor of London, wanted to introduce congestion charges in Edinburgh (2005) and Manchester (2008) - The money raised from the congestion charge would have paid for infrastructure improvements

Question 37

What was the statistics for Edinburgh's congestion charge referendum?

Answer 37

Turnout- 61.7% Yes- 25.6% No- 74.4%

Question 38

What was the statistics for Manchester's congestion charge referendum?

Answer 38

Turnout- 53.2% Yes- 21.2% No- 78.8%

Question 39

Recall

Answer 39

A device that allows citizens to unseat an elected official before the end of their term in office

Question 40

What are the issues associated with recalls?

Answer 40

- Undermines the principle of representative democracy

Question 41

Example of a recall campaign

Answer 41

Recall Gray Davies Campaign was launched in California in February 2003 - Democrat governor was only weeks into his second term in office after having been convincingly re-elected previous November. Evidence that the campaign had been organised and funded by Republicans unhappy at his re-election.

Question 42

Political Culture

Answer 42

Ideas, beliefs and attitudes that shape political behaviour within a given area. It describes the way in which citizens collectively view the political system as well as their status and role within it

Question 43

What three characteristics describe UK politics?

Answer 43

- Homogeneity - Consensus - Deference

Question 44

Homogeneity

Answer 44

Belief that citizens share common heritage and identity; a sense of togetherness that transcended what divided them

Question 45

Consensus

Answer 45

UK citizens accept the basic rules of the game. Need for toleration, pragmatism, peaceful negotiation and compromise.

Question 46

Deference

Answer 46

People defer to an elite that was regarded as being born to rule, natural willingness to accept an ingrained, class-based inequality and rigid social hierachy

Question 47

Political Participation

Answer 47

Refers to the range of ways in which citizens can involve themselves in the political process

Question 48

Franchise

Answer 48

Right to vote as established by parliamentary statute. The vast majority of adult UK citizens have the right to vote

Question 49

What act extended the franchise to citizens aged 18 or over?

Answer 49

Representation of the People Act (1969)

Question 50

How many adults could vote in 1831?

Answer 50

5% of adults which represented 450,000 individuals from a population of around 25 million

Question 51

How many adults could vote in 1969?

Answer 51

99% of adults which represented around 40 million individuals from a population of 58 million

Question 52

When can you not vote in the parliamentary election?

Answer 52

- European union citizen from an EU country other than the UK or Ireland - Member of HOL - Convicted criminal serving custodial sentence - Convicted of a corrupt or illegal electoral practice - Suffering from severe mental illness

Question 53

Turnout

Answer 53

The percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot in a given election

Question 54

General election turnout statistics (2005, 2010 and 2015)

Answer 54

2005: 61.4% 2010: 65.1% 2015: 66.1%

Question 55

Why is low turnout an issue?

Answer 55

- Questions government's legitimacy | - Strength of electoral mandate

Question 56

Example of low turnout and the issues

Answer 56

[2005] Labour Party secured a Commons majority of 65 with the support of only 35.2% of the 61.4% of eligible voters who turnout out to vote. Equivalent to 21.6% of the electorate

Question 57

Legitimacy

Answer 57

Legal right or authority to exercise power. Government claims legitimacy as a result of the mandate it secures at a general election

Question 58

Mandate

Answer 58

Right of the governing party to pursue the policies set out in its general election manifesto

Question 59

Differential turnout

Answer 59

When the national turnout figure recorded at a given election masks differences in turnout by constituency or by region

Question 60

Example of differential turnout

Answer 60

National turnout figure in 2010 was 65.1%, - Turnout at East Renfrewshire 77.3% - Turnout at Manchester 44.3%

Question 61

What variables cause turnout to vary?

Answer 61

- age - gender - social class - ethnicity

Question 62

Turnout and age

Answer 62

[2010] 44% of 18-24 age category cast a ballot in compared to 76% turnout recorded for over 65s

Question 63

Turnout and social class

Answer 63

[2010] 57% in the DE social classes cast a ballot compared to 76% in AB categories

Question 64

What factors might account for variable turnout?

Answer 64

- Type of election - Political apathy - Hapathy - Relative value of vote - Electoral system in operation - Role of mass media

Question 65

Type of election

Answer 65

Voters more likely to vote when they value the institutions to which individuals are seeking to be elected. Relatively low levels of turnout witnessed at local elections

Question 66

Political apathy or disengagement

Answer 66

POWER report suggest increasing number of votes were coming to the conclusion that elections made little difference especially as parties were converging ideologically

Question 67

Hapathy

Answer 67

Proportion abstain as they are happy with the status quo and therefore do not feel the need to cast a ballot

Question 68

Relative value of the vote

Answer 68

Safe seats less likely to vote than marginal

Question 69

Electoral system in operation

Answer 69

Inclined to cast a ballot when they believe that their votes will count

Question 70

Role of mass media

Answer 70

Media coverage can have an effect of stimulating turnout

Question 71

Non- electoral participation methods

Answer 71

- Canvassing and leafleting - Organising election events and fundraising activities - Staffing campaign offices - Letter writing - Membership/involvement in a political party - Engaging in a political protest or pressure group activity - Debating politics

Question 72

Participation crisis

Answer 72

View that declining levels of political participation in the UK threaten to undermine its democratic systems

Question 73

Power Inquiry

Answer 73

An inquiry into the state of political participation in the UK initiated by Joseph Rowntree Trust and the main conclusion was that popular disillusionment with democratic institutions and the main political parties demanded immediate attention

Question 74

What has the sharp decline in individual party membership in the last 30 years been matched by?

Answer 74

Steep rise in pressure group membership

Question 75

Which pressure group had more members than the three main political parties combined in 2012?

Answer 75

RSPB

Question 76

What did Noreena Hertz remark in the Independent back in 2001?

Answer 76

"It's not about apathy": "while voting is waning alternative forms of political expression...are all on the rise"

Question 77

What did Anthnoy Seldon, Blair's biographer, say in his 2009 book; Trust: How We Lost it and How to Get it Back?

Answer 77

He made links between the declining levels of public trust in formal politics and decline in party memberships

Question 78

What has research demonstrated about individuals who have boycotted products for ethical reasons?

Answer 78

Rose from 4% (1984) to 31% (2000) with 28% admitting to have bought certain goods for political, ethical or environmental reasons in 2000

Question 79

What is the issue with low levels of participation?

Answer 79

Undermine the legitimacy of political institutions and processes. Low electoral turnout brings the governing party's mandate into question

Question 80

What did Paul Whiteley highlight in Politics Review in 2009?

Answer 80

The link between political participation and government effectiveness in 37 countries, it was shown that countries with higher levels of political participation are more likely to enjoy an effective government.

Question 81

What class is less likely to participate directly in more conventional political activity?

Answer 81

Social classes C2 and DE less likely to participate directly in more conventional forms of political activities than classes AB and C1

Question 82

How has there been attempts to tackle the issue of low turnout?

Answer 82

- Postal voting Led to allegations of voter fraud and intimidation especially when there was a significant number of voters registered at the same address. Gained in terms of size and lost quality -SMS voting (2000 and 2007) similar criticisms - Compulsory voting Australia compulsory voting is a requirement is included in the Commonwealth Electoral Act (1918) which was amended in 1924 to make voting compulsory. - Reducing the voting age Young voters are statistically less likely to vote

Question 83

What was the two key issues with compulsory voting in Australia?

Answer 83

- Donkey votes preferential voting system, votes simply numbered 1,2,3,4 etc in order vertically down that it appears - Informal votes Ballots which are completed incorrectly. 2010 Australian elections 5.65% of ballots classified as informal

Question 84

What has the POWER Report advocated to improve and address the flaws in UK democracy?

Answer 84

- Rebalancing power away from the executive and unaccountable bodies towards parliament and local government - Introduction of greater responsiveness and choice into electoral and party systems - Allowing citizens much more direct and focused say over political decisions and policies

Question 85

What are the main features of UK democracy?

Answer 85

- Multi-level government where policies can in theory be developed and best placed to understand the needs of the people - System of free and fair elections which incorporates a wide franchise and operating under a secret ballot - Protection of basic rights and liberties under the rule of law - Existence of wide range of political parties and pressure groups

Question 86

Critique of UK democracy

Answer 86

- use of FPTP system at GE - Failure to properly reform parliament - Low levels of turnout and disillusionment, - Rise of single-issue pressure groups - Absence of complete separation of powers - Transfer of government power away from elected bodies and towards unelected quangos - absence of a properly drafted bill of rights incorporated within a codified and entrenched constitution

Question 87

Democratic Audit (2012)

Answer 87

Recognised the progress that had been made some areas while areas whilst at the same time identifying rooms for improvement

Question 88

Compare statistics between UK and Nordic

Answer 88

Turnout in parliamentary elections (2000s average) UK: 60% NO: 79% Proportion of MPs who are women (2010) UK: 22% NO: 41%

Question 89

E-democracy

Answer 89

The greater use of the internet, mobile phones and other electronic media as a means of enhancing the operation existing political institutions and processes, and encouraging greater political participation.

Question 90

Citizen Jury

Answer 90

Panel of citizens convened to hear evidence and deliver their verdict on a government proposal or specific policy areas. Juries do not have a final say on a given policy as their feedback is considered by a panel of specialists and the politicians serving in government posts make the final decisions over policy - Former president Gordon Brown was advocate for this as a means of enhancing political participation

Question 91

Citizens; assemblies

Answer 91

Looks to involve a representative cross-section of the population in the policy-making process. - involve a lot more people - give more power to decide upon a particular course of action which can be put to a public vote through a referendum - Politicians abstain from policy making process

Question 92

What makes a good citizens' assembly?

Answer 92

- established from the outset that their findings will be put straight to a referendum without amendment or modification by government - Assemblies seen as independent - Assemblies seen as having the power to propose change