democracy and participation

Question 1

democracy

Answer 1

rule by the people, political systems in which people and involved in decision making (directly or indirectly)

Question 2

direct democracy

Answer 2

all individuals express their
opinions themselves and
not through representatives
acting on their behalf.
An example of direct
democracy is a referendum.

Question 3

representative democracy

Answer 3

a form of democracy in
which an individual selects
a person (or political party)
to act on their behalf to
exercise political choice.They are expected to exercise their judgement. If they do not satisfy the voters, they can be held to account and removed at the
next election.

Question 4

examples of features of direct democracy

Answer 4

• individuals express opinions themselves
  -citizens are more active in decision making
  -not elective

Question 5

examples of features of representative democracy

Answer 5

Citizens elect representatives to
make decisions on their behalf

All adult citizens have the right to vote for
representatives

Citizens pass their authority to their
representatives

Elections for representatives are
free and fair

Question 6

advantages of direct democracy

Answer 6

• gives equal weight to all votes (unlike representative where the varying size of constituencies mean votes dont have equal value)

encourages popular participation in politics- expecting people to take their duties as citizens seriously

it removes the need for trusted representatives, people take responsibility for their own decisions

it develops a sense of community and encourages genuine debate

Question 7

disadvantages of direct democracy

Answer 7

• its impractical in a heavily populated modern state where decision making is complicated

-Many people will not want to – or feel qualified to – take part in decision-making, so political activists decide what happens.

Open to manipulation by the cleverest and
most articulate speakers, who will persuade
people to support their viewpoint.

Will of the majority is not mediated by
parliamentary institutions, so minority
viewpoints are disregarded. (lack of proportional representation)

Question 8

what are advantages of representative democracy

Answer 8

-only practical system in a large
modern state, where issues are complex
and often need rapid response (for
example, the deployment of troops).

Politicians can form parties, it brings
coherence and gives people a real choice
of representative. Pressure groups form to
represent different interests, promoting
debate and encouraging pluralist
democracy.

Reduces chances of minority rights being
overridden by ‘tyranny of the majority’.

elections are held which help hold representatives to account

Politicians are better informed
than the average citizen about the many
issues on which they must take a view.- so they are more reliable citizens

Question 9

disadvantages of a representative democracy

Answer 9

• may lead to reduced participation as people are choosing to hand the responsibility to politicians

Parties and pressure groups are often run by elites pursuing their own agendas, not truly representing the people.

Minorities may still find themselves under-
represented as politicians are more likely to follow the views of the majority to secure election.

Politicians are skilful in avoiding accountability, especially as general elections are usually 5 years
apart in the UK.

Politicians may be corrupt, may betray election promises or put loyalty to their party before responsibility to the electorate.

Question 10

give examples of how direct democracy has been used within a representative system

Answer 10

national referendum-
referendum is a direct vote on a single issue, usually requires a response to a straight yes/no question. The UK has had only three nationwide referendums: on
Britain’s membership of the European Economic Community (or European Union) in 1975 and 2016; and on whether to change the system of voting for the Westminster parliament in 2011.

The 2015 Recall of MPs Act: This allows a petition to be triggered if an MP is sentenced to be imprisoned or is suspended from the House of Commons for more than 21 days. If 10 per cent of
eligible voters in the constituency sign the petition, a by-election is called. Direct democracy is thus used to hold representatives to account.

Question 11

the government dervies its legitimacy from the consent of the people- give examples of positive democratic features in the uk

Answer 11

Independent judiciary, separate from
the other branches of government, that
upholds the rule of law and protects a
wide range of personal freedoms

Free and fair elections, largely free
of corruption and intimidation, in
recent years supplemented by
opportunities to vote in referendums

Wide range of political
parties and pressure groups
to which people may belong

Free media that challenges
government policy and
exposes the misdeeds of
politicians

Devolved governments (with powers transferred from the UK parliament in
London to the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh, the Welsh Assembly in Cardi and
the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast), and for elected mayors for London and
other English cities, enabling more decisions to be taken closer to local people

Question 12

what is legitimacy

Answer 12

the legal right to exercise
power, for example, a
government’s right to rule
following an election.

Question 13

what is a democratic defecit

Answer 13

a perceived deficiency
in the way a particular
democratic body works,
especially in terms of
accountability and control
over policy-making.

Question 14

what are reasons showing that the uk is suffering from a democratic defecit

Answer 14

Under-representation of minority viewpoints due to the voting system: The House of Commons is elected by the first-past-the-post system, which produces a mismatch between the votes cast for UK political parties and the seats that each party wins in parliament.

The house of lords lack democratic legitimacy-the House of Lords, wholly unelected. Periodic attempts at reform have failed, leaving the UK with a mainly appointed second chamber. The greater part of its membership has been appointed by successive prime ministers, with smaller numbers chosen by other party
leaders, and non-party ‘crossbench’ peers nominated since 2000 by an independent House of Lords Appointments Commission. This ensures that a number of different professions and fields of experience are present in the upper house, but it continues to lack democratic legitimacy.

Lack of protection for citizens’ rights: The European Convention on Human Rights,
incorporated into UK law in 1998 (the Human Rights Act), arguably provides inadequate guarantees for the rights of citizens in their relationship with the state. Governments can ‘derogate from’ articles of the Human Rights Act, officially stating that parts of the act no longer have legal authority in certain situations.

Control of sections of the media by wealthy, unaccountable business interests: For example,
the powerful Murdoch group has owned a number of British newspapers simultaneously,
including The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun.

Question 15

what is a participation crisis

Answer 15

belief that the UK’s democratic system suffers from a ‘participation
crisis’ due to a lack of engagement with the political system among a significant section of
the population.

Question 16

why is it believed that the uk is suffering from a participation crisis

Answer 16

due to a lack of engagement with the political system among a significant section of
the population.

Question 17

what is voter turnout
- how is turnout a sign of a participation crisis

Answer 17

measures of participation.
Falling turnout is important because it means that governments
are elected on a reduced share of the popular vote, thus calling the
strength of their mandate into question.

Question 18

give figures of recent voter turnouts

Answer 18

average turnout at general elections from 1945 to 1997 was 76 per cent.

Since then, it has been lower. The percentage for 2001 (just below 60 percent) was the lowest since the end of the First World War in 1918.

Average turnout in the May 2016 local elections in England was 33.8 per cent.

In the February 2017 Stoke-on-Trent by-election, for example, only 38.2 per cent of the electorate voted.

On the same day, the Copeland
(Cumbria) by-election saw a turnout of 51.3 per cent, down from
63.8 per cent at the general election.

Question 19

why is turnout is even lower, as a rule, in ‘second order’ elections,
such as those for the devolved bodies in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland, and in local council elections.

Answer 19

This
may be because voters see these less powerful bodies as unlikely
to make a major difference to their lives. Turnout in parliamentary
by-elections is often low because people are not helping to choose
a government.

Question 20

how is party membership an indicator of a participation crisis

Answer 20

Only 1.6 per cent of the electorate
now belongs to one of the three main UK-wide political parties, whereas in 1983 the figure was
3.8 per cent. However, this differs significantly from party to party.

Question 21

examples of decline in party membership in conservative party

Answer 21

The Conservative Party had just under 150,000 members by 2016, a significant drop from an
estimated 400,000 in the mid-1990s.

Question 22

example of decline in party membership in labour party

Answer 22

The Labour Party’s membership increased in the run-up to the 1997 election but fell while the party was in government to around 190,000 members. The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader
has been associated with a remarkable increase in membership, with a total of 515,000 by
July 2016.

Question 23

example of decline in party membership in lib dems

Answer 23

Liberal Democrats had about 70,000 members in the early 2000s, falling to 49,000 during
the 2010–15 coalition with the Conservatives. In 2016, they had recovered to about 76,000
members, and by 2017 claimed a membership exceeding 82,000.

Question 24

examples of less formal ways to be involved in politics- pressure groups

Answer 24

Membership of
pressure groups, particularly those concerned with single issues such as the environment, has
been increasing.
(the Iraq War, fox hunting and student tuition fees.)

Direct action has become a recognised feature of modern politics, indicating that people may be turning to new methods of expression because they feel that conventional politics has let them down.

Society has
become more consumerist – people make up their minds more on an individual basis and are used
to making choices between different options.

Question 25

less formal ways of being involved in politics- explain social media

Answer 25

has enabled people, especially the young, to
exchange political views and participate in online campaigns on particular issues, without engaging
in the real world. An example of e-democracy is support for e-petitions, which allow people to
register a viewpoint online. An e-petition on the Downing Street website in 2007, against proposals
for road-charging, was signed by 1.8 million people.

Question 26

why might people be uninvolved in traditional politics

Answer 26

political apathy – a lack of interest or awareness of contemporary events and political issues that
affect society.

An alternative version of this is known as ‘hapathy’ – a blend of the words ‘happiness’
and ‘apathy’, meaning that people are generally contented and see no need to push for political change. This may possibly help to account for the low levels of voter turnout in 2001 and 2005

A factor that helps explain both declining voter turnout and increasing interest in alternative types of political activity is the negative public perception of politicians in recent decades.
Examples of dishonest behaviour by MPs and broken electoral promises, together with a general sense that voting does not change anything, have reduced levels of trust in democratic politics.

Question 27

participation crisis due to negative public perception of politicians - 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal

Answer 27

in 2009 The Daily Telegraph published evidence of widespread abuse of the system that allowed
MPs to claim expenses for living costs. The affair dragged in MPs from across the political spectrum, leading to a number of apologies, forced repayments and decisions not to contest seats at the next general election. Five former MPs and two members of the House of Lords were
sentenced to prison terms.

Although steps have been taken to regulate the expenses system,
this does not seem to have fundamentally altered popular perceptions. A 2015 survey by market
research company Ipsos MORI found that politicians were the profession least trusted by the
public, below estate agents, journalists and bankers.

Question 28

what should be done to reform the system

Answer 28

• changing the day for elections from Thursday to the weekend, as in mainland Europe
• allowing people to vote anywhere in their constituency, rather than insisting on attendance at a
  particular polling station
• allowing voting to take place over several days.
• postal voting
  -electronic voting

Question 29

what are issues with electronic and postal voting

Answer 29

methods are open to questions about security. When all-postal ballots were
trialled in four regions at the 2004 European parliament elections, there were complaints of an increase in electoral fraud, including multiple voting and intimidation. Voters also disliked being
deprived of other means of voting. E-voting is open to problems arising from cyberattack and the
possibility of online impersonation of voters. The need to access technology may also discriminate
against older people, who are less familiar with it, and poorer voters who cannot afford computers.

Question 30

why should voting be made compulsory

Answer 30

Voting is a social duty as well as a right; people should be
engaged in the processes that affect their lives.
It would produce a parliament that is more representative of
the population as a whole.
Politicians would have to run better quality campaigns, and
governments would have to frame their policies with the whole
electorate in mind.
Voters are not obliged to vote for one of the candidates if
they conscientiously cannot do so; it would still be legal to
spoil one’s ballot paper, or a ‘none of the above’ box could be
provided on the paper.

Question 31

reasons as to why voting should remain voluntary

Answer 31

-In a preferential voting system, where voters number
candidates in order, compulsory voting might lead to
participants simply placing candidates in rank order
(1,2,3 or 3,2,1).

It is undemocratic to force people to take part in something
that should be a matter of choice.

It would not stop politicians focusing their campaigning on
marginal seats, and neglecting safe seats where the outcome is
predictable.

Compulsory voting does not address the deeper reasons why
people decide not to vote.

Question 32

what reforms would help amend the participation crisis further

Answer 32

• Changing the electoral system for Westminster to one based on proportional representation, so
  that it more accurately reflects voters’ preferences. People who wish to vote for a minority party
  might then feel that there is more chance of their viewpoint being represented.
• Further reform of parliament, to make its processes more democratic and transparent, and
  enabling it to bring governments more effectively to account for their actions.
• The transfer of more government powers and functions to local bodies – for example, devolving
  power to the English regions or to an English parliament.

Question 33

what is suffrage

Answer 33

the ability or right to vote in public elections. In the
present day all adults over the age of 18 possess this right, provided they have registered to vote.
British and Irish citizens have reciprocal rights to vote in each other’s countries. Commonwealth
citizens are allowed to vote, as are UK nationals who have lived abroad for less than 15 years.

Question 34

who isnt allowed to vote in parliamentary elections

Answer 34

people under the age of 18
* EU citizens (apart from those from the Irish Republic), although they can vote in local elections
* Members of the House of Lords (on the grounds that they have a permanent voice as members
of one of the two Houses of Parliament)
* prisoners (this exclusion is subject to a challenge from the European Court of Human Rights, but
to date the government has ignored it)
* those convicted of a corrupt or illegal electoral practice, who are barred for 5 years
* people who are compulsorily detained in a psychiatric hospital.

Question 35

what have been some anomalies in electoral system

Answer 35

Plural voting allowed wealthy men, who owned property in more than one constituency, to vote
more than once.
* By custom, women were excluded from voting, although there had been occasional examples of
women who owned property in their own right exercising the franchise.
This meant that the electorate totalled approximately 400,000 men by the early 19th century.

Question 36

explain the great reform act of 1832

Answer 36

• abolishing the separate representation of the most underpopulated ‘rotten boroughs’ and
  creating seats for urban areas, such as Manchester
• granting the vote to some new categories of people in the counties, including tenant farmers
  and smaller property holders
  #
  The electorate increased to an estimated 650,000, equivalent to 5 per cent of the adult population.

Question 37

explain work of suffragists and suffragettes to try to expand the franchise

Answer 37

It was assumed that married women were represented by the votes cast by their husbands.
in 1897, under the leadership of Millicent Fawcett. Members, known as
‘suffragists’, were mainly middle-class women who believed in non-violent methods of persuasion,such as peaceful demonstrations, petitions and lobbying MPs.

Dubbed ‘suffragettes’ by the popular
press, the WSPU attracted both working- and middle-class support and used more militant tactics
than the NUWSS. Its aim was to attract publicity and put pressure on parliament through attacks

on well-known institutions and the disruption of political meetings and other prominent male-
dominated public activities. For example, in 1913, suffragette Emily Davison threw herself under the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby.

The suffragettes attracted hostility but also a degree of sympathy for their strength and
endurance. Suffragettes who were imprisoned for their activities went on hunger strike, leading
the authorities to resort to force-feeding. This gave the movement valuable publicity and depicted
the liberal government of the day as unreasonably harsh.

Question 38

what was 1918 representation of the people act

Answer 38

act was passed mainly due to growing pressure to give the
vote to all working-class men, in recognition of the fact that many who had served in the armed forces were not householders

Women over the age of 30, who were householders or wives of
householders, were granted the vote at the same time.

However, the vast
majority of female war workers were younger, unmarried women, who did not benefit directly from
the 1918 legislation.