Democracy and participation

Question 1

What is Democracy?

Answer 1

Democracy means people power, ‘demo’ (people) and ‘kratos’ (power) originating from ancient greek.

It is system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.

Question 2

What is politics ?

Answer 2

Politics is how we make, shape and amend the rules that govern our lives .

Question 3

What is power?

Answer 3

Power is the ability to make people do things they might not want to do.

Question 4

What is authority?

Answer 4

Authority is the given right to influence peoples behaviours and actions

Question 5

What is legitimacy?

Answer 5

Legitimacy is when a government or any other political institutions have Authority to hold power and make rules.

Question 6

What is participation and equality?

Answer 6

Participation is when key decisions are made by people and their representatives.

Question 7

What is a referendum?

Answer 7

A referendum is when citizens are involved in decision making rather than through representatives making the decision.

Question 8

What is an E-petition?

Answer 8

An E-petition is when the public raise a concern themselves and encourage other members of the public to sign the petition

Question 9

What are recall petitions?

Answer 9

A recall petition is the process of which an MP can lose their seat in the house of commons.

Question 10

What is the recall process?

Question 11

What are initiatives?

Question 12

What are benefits and drawbacks of referendums?

Answer 12

Benefits- everyone gets a say
-gives equal weight in all votes
- encourage popular participation
- develop a sense of community
- encourage genuine debate

Drawbacks-divides communities
- exposes class division
- leads to tyranny of the majority
- lack of accountability
-cant throw out millions of voters
- pose complex questions

Question 13

What does it mean to reform a democracy

Answer 13

To strengthen and create and maintain a healthy democracy.

Question 14

How can referendums create a healthy democracy?

Answer 14

Increase frequency of referendums and possibly introduce intiatitives to give people power rather than governments to call referendums.

Question 15

How do E-petitions create a healthy democracy?

Answer 15

E-petitions keep the public politically engaged and they help make parliamentary debate more focused on issues important to the public.

Question 16

How does the power of recall create a healthy democracy?

Answer 16

The recall of MPS act 2015 enables voters to trigger a by-election to remove MPS.

an mp would need to have been sentenced to prison or suspended from house of commons for 10 days

Question 17

How does further devoultion create

Answer 17

More power to be devolved from westiminster, this would bring decision making closer to people and might encourage greater participation.

Question 18

What is the house of lords reform?

Answer 18

• House of lords is unelected and unaccountable
  -Members are appointed and claims this can encourage political cronyism ( Boris Johnson appointed 86 new life peers)
• Making the lords an elected chamber would make westminster fully democratically accountable
• Danger is that elected Lords could become a rival to the commons potentially creating constitutional gridlock
• Given public lack of trust in politicans and concerns of low electoral turn out rates for house of commons what difference would it make making the Lords an elected chamber

Question 19

What is digital democracy?

Answer 19

Digital Democracy’ refers to the various ways by which electronic platforms can engage and secure the wider and more informed participation of the public in the political environment.

Question 20

What are the pros and cons of digital democracy?

Answer 20

Pros:
- Voting on mobile phones is convient and would encourage more voting
-

Cons:
- However, it would also result in voting no longer being carried out in secret
- Possibility of voter manipulation would increase
- Allegations of cyber- interference in western elections by russia indicates rhat electronic voting is more open to fraud
- The way politicans and activists use social media it can encourage populist sloganeering rather than informed political discussions
- Social media can be used as a bullying platform
- Banning of president Trump on twitter in 2021 raises importance if whether media companies should be allowed to determine who is allowed on their platforms

Question 21

What is a direct democracy?

Answer 21

A direct democracy = when policies and laws are decided by a majority of those eligible rather than by a body of elected representatives

Question 22

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a direct democracy?

Answer 22

Ads:
- has genuinie people power
- no need for elected politicans
- encourages participation and educates the public on key issues
- People take responsibility for their decisions
- Prevents powers from being concentrated in the hands of an elite

Dis:
- Population size can make it difficult and expensive
- Public may not have time / interest
- Public make not be willing to make unpopular decisions
- Tyrannt of majority

Question 23

What is a representative democracy?

Answer 23

A representative democracy = people elect representatives to vote on their behalf and if unpopular they can be voted out at the next election

Question 24

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a representative democracy?

Answer 24

Ads:
- More pratical with the time and population
- Elected representatives can implement unpopular but neccesary policies
- Representatives can be held accountable

Dis:
- Mps can be disengaged from the public and not adequaltly represent their interests