Democracy And Participation

Question 1

What is direct democracy?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What is representative democracy?

Answer 2

Representative democracy a form of democracy in which an individual selects a person (or political party to act on their behalf to exercise political choice.

Question 3

Difference between direct and representative democracy?

Answer 3

direct democracy - in which individuals express their opinions themselves

representative democracy - in which people elect representatives who take decisions on their behalf.

Question 4

Which democratic system is used today?

Answer 4

Direct democracy originated in ancient Athens, where adult male citizens had the right to take part in decision-making at public meetings. Clearly such a system would not be practical as a regular means of decision-making in a large modern state.
Representative democracy is the usual form of democracy in the modern world. Representatives do not act as delegates, merely taking instructions from the voters. 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.
Both systems are based on the concept of majority rule, although a representative system may include more safeguards for minorities.

Question 5

Representative
democracy features (4)

Answer 5

-Citizens elect
representatives to take decisions on their behalf
-All adult citizens have
the right to vote for
representatives
-Citizens delegate their authority to their
representatives
-Elections for
representatives are free and fair

Question 6

Direct democracy features (3)

Answer 6

-Not elective
-Individuals express opinions themselves
-Citizens are more active in decision-making

Question 7

Pluralist democracy meaning

Answer 7

a type of democracy in which a government makes decisions as a result of the interplay of various ideas and contrasting arguments from competing groups and organisations

Question 8

Advantages of direct democracy (4)

Answer 8

-Gives equal weight to all votes, unlike a representative system where the varying sizes of constituencies mean that votes do not all have equal value.
-Encourages popular participation in politics by expecting people to take their duties as citizens seriously.
-Removes the need for trusted representatives, as people can take responsibility for their own
decisions
-Develops a sense of community and encourages genuine debate.

Question 9

Disadvantages of direct democracy

Answer 9

-Impractical in a large, 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.

Question 10

Advantages of representative democracy (5)

Answer 10

-The only practical system in a large modern state, where issues are complex and often need rapid response (e.g. deployment of troops).
-Politicians form parties, bringing coherence and giving 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 allow people to hold representatives to account.
-Politicians are (in theory) better informed than the average citizen about the many issues on which they must take a view.

Question 11

Disadvantages of representative democracy (6)

Answer 11

-May lead to reduced participation as people choose to hand 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
underrepresented 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 five years apart in the UK.
-Politicians may be corrupt and incompetent, may betray election promises or put loyalty to their party betore responsibility to the electorate
-campaigning and focusing on marginal seats more

Question 12

Instances direct democracy can be used within representative system (2)

Answer 12

-National referendums
-2015 Recall of MPs Act

Question 13

What happens in referendums? Examples

Answer 13

A referendum is a direct vote on a single issue, usually requiring 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.

Question 14

What does the 2015 Recall of MPs Act allow for?

Answer 14

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 15

Meaning of legitimacy

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What is a democratic deficit?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Meaning of participation crisis

Answer 17

a lack of engagement with
the political system. For example where a large number of people choose not to vote, join a political party or stand for office.

Question 18

Positive democratic features of UK political system (5)

Answer 18

-Devolved governments for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and elected mayors for London and other English cities, enabling more decisions to be taken closer to local people
-Independent judiciary 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
-Free media that challenges government policy and exposes the misdeeds of politicians
-Wide range of political
parties and pressure groups to which people may belong

Question 19

Respects in which there may be undemocratic features of UK political system (5)

Answer 19

-Underrepresentation of minority viewpoints due to voting system
-House of Lords lacks democratic legitimacy
-Lack of protection of citizens’ rights
-Control of sections of the media by wealthy, unaccountable business interests
-Influence of lobbyists, big business

Question 20

How does the voting system cause the underrepresentation of minority viewpoints?

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Problem with the HOL

Answer 21

The UK is unusual in having one of the two
chambers of its Parliament, 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.

Question 22

Why is there arguably lack of protection of citizens’ rights?

Answer 22

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’ (suspend) articles of the Human Rights Act in certain situations.

Question 23

Explain undue media influence

Answer 23

For example, the powerful Murdoch group has owned a number of British newspapers simultaneously, including The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun.

Question 24

Areas of possible participation crisis (2)

Answer 24

-Voter turnout
-Party membership

Question 25

Average voter turnout 1945-97 vs 2001

Answer 25

The average turnout at general elections from 1945 to 1997 was 76 per cent. Since then, as Figure 1.2 shows, it has been lower. The percentage for 2001 (59.4) was the lowest since the end of the First World War in 1918.

Question 26

Why is voter turnout important?

Answer 26

This is one of the most obvious 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 27

Where is turnout even lower than in GEs and why?

Answer 27

Turnout is even lower, as a rule, in so-called ‘second order’ elections, such as those for the devolved bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This may be because voters see these less powerful bodies as unlikely to make a major difference to their lives.

Question 28

Example of low turnout i second rider elections?

Answer 28

In spite of publicity encouraging people to vote, the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in 2012 had the lowest average turnout at any UK contest, at 15 per cent. Voters did not fully understand the purpose of these elected individuals. There was a slight improvement to 26 per cent in the 2016 elections.

Question 29

Turnout in 2019 GE

Answer 29

67.3%

Question 30

Stats on decline in party membership generally

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

Labour membership stats

Answer 31

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. Has decreased but around 400,000.

Question 32

Conservative Party membership stats

Answer 32

Around 170,000, was estimated 400,000 in mid-1990s

Question 33

Lib Dem membership stats

Answer 33

The 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. Now 90,000z

Question 34

Increase in smaller parties’ vote

Answer 34

Another recent trend has been an increase in the membership of some smaller parties. At the 2015
general election a record 29.4 per cent of the vote went to parties other than the conservatives,
Labour and Lib Dem.

75 in 2015 Yes but in 2017 went back to almost 90%

Question 35

SNP membership decline

Answer 35

2016:120,000
2023:74,000

Question 36

UKIP membership decline

Answer 36

2016:39,000
2023:>4,000

Question 37

Other ways people have got involved in politics less formally

Answer 37

-There are other, less formal ways in which people can get involved in politics. Membership of pressure groups, particularly those concerned with single issues such as the environment, has been increasing. The last two decades have seen numerous well-attended demonstrations on issues as diverse as fuel prices, 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.
-In the last decade the emergence of social media 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 38

How many protested against the Iraq war?

Answer 38

More than 750,000 in a day in London in Feb 2003

Question 39

How many voted in Brexit referendum?

Answer 39

33.5 million

Question 40

Example of e-petition

Answer 40

An e-petition on the Downing Street website in 2007, against proposals for road-charging, was signed by 1.8 million people.

Question 41

Why are informal more informal ways of getting involved in politics provoking concern?

Answer 41

The rise of new forms of political engagement may be seen as a positive development, but it is still a cause for concern that so many people are uninvolved in traditional politics.

Question 42

Explanations for people less involved in traditional politics (3)

Answer 42

-One explanation is 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.

-To some extent levels of participation depend on the type of issue at stake. Turnout for the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014 was 84.6 per cent, while 72.2 per cent of people took part in the June 2016 EU referendum across the UK. These figures suggest that on critical issues affecting the way that the country is governed, people will still express a view.

-A factor that helps explain both declining voter turnout and increasing interest in alternative types of political activity is the generally 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 43

Hapathy role in past elections

Answer 43

This may possibly help to account for the unusually low levels of voter turnout in 2001 and 2005 (the economy was booming and presumably levels of contentment were higher) but not for the 2010 election (which took place against a much less optimistic economic background).

Question 44

Examples of large involvement from voters regarding critical issues

Answer 44

Turnout for the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014 was 84.6 per cent, while 72.2 per cent of people took part in the June 2016 EU referendum across the UK. These figures suggest that on critical issues affecting the way that the country is governed, people will still express a view.

Question 45

What happened in the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal?

Answer 45

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 46

Suggestions to increase voter turnout

Answer 46

• 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.
-Two other suggestions are to encourage wider use of postal voting, and to allow electronic voting (‘e-voting’). These 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 cyber attack 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.
-There has also been a suggestion that the voting age be reduced from 18 to 16, which was allowed in the 2014 Scottish referendum, but is still not the practice in UK elections.
-Another radical proposal is to make voting compulsory. This is the practice in certain countries, including Belgium and Australia, where failure to turn up at the polling station attracts a small fine.

Question 47

Problems with e voting and increased postal voting

Answer 47

Two other suggestions are to encourage wider use of postal voting, and to allow electronic voting (‘e-voting’). These 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 cyber attack 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 48

Arguments voting should be made compulsory (4)

Answer 48

-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 (also if voters see impact more likely to recognise voting can make a difference, cycle)
-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 49

Arguments voting should not be made compulsory (4)

Answer 49

-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 sate seats where the outcome is predictable
-Compulsory voting does not address the deeper reasons why people decide not to vote.

Question 50

Broader reforms of the UK democratic system that could be considered (3)

Answer 50

• 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 51

Meaning of Franchise/suffrage

Answer 51

the ability, or right, to vote in public elections.

Question 52

Who can vote in the UK?

Answer 52

The suffrage (also known as the franchise) is 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 53

Who can’t vote in the UK?

Answer 53

• 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 five years
• people who are compulsorily detained in a psychiatric hospital.

Question 54

Franchise anomalies up till early 1800s (4)

Answer 54

• There were two types of constituency: the counties and the boroughs (or towns), which varied considerably in size. In the counties, the right to vote was restricted to those who owned freehold property worth at least 40 shillings, or £2 in value. Voting qualifications in boroughs varied according to a range of local rules and traditions. In some boroughs all freemen were entitled to vote, whereas in others it depended on property ownership or the payment of some kind of local tax.
• The distribution of parliamentary seats had not kept pace with economic growth and population movement, so some tiny boroughs retained an historic right to return MPs. In many cases a
wealthy patron effectively nominated the MP. Meanwhile, emerging industrial towns were vet to
acquire representation of their own
• 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.

Question 55

Electorate in early 1800s

Answer 55

400,000 men by the early 1800s

Question 56

Changes under The Great Reform Act of 1832

Answer 56

•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

• creating a standard qualification for the franchise in the boroughs, so it now applied to all male householders living in properties worth at least £10 per annum - the middle classes, who were growing in importance as a result of the industrial revolution.
The electorate increased to an estimated 650,000, equivalent to 5 per cent of the adult population.

Question 57

Electorate size after Great Reform Act

Answer 57

The electorate increased to an estimated 650,000, equivalent to 5 per cent of the adult population.

Question 58

Overall Franchise developments across Victorian area to early 20th century

Answer 58

.

Question 59

Voting reform 1867

Answer 59

Borough householders (e.g. tradesmen, shopkeepers) enfranchised
Electorate rises from
1-2 million = 13% of
adult population

Question 60

Franchise development 1884

Answer 60

Rural householders (e.g. farm workers, miners) put on same footing as borough ones
• Electorate over five
million = 25% of
adult population

Question 61

Franchise development 1918

Answer 61

All men over 21 and women over 30 enfranchised
75% of adult population can vote

Question 62

Franchise development 1928

Answer 62

Terms for men and women equalised;
both sexes can vote at 21
Full adult suffrage

Question 63

Franchise development 1948

Answer 63

End of plural voting
One person, one vote

Question 64

Franchise development 1969

Answer 64

Voting age reduced to 18
Reflecting changing attitudes in society about adulthood

Question 65

Overall developments from GRA to 1918

Answer 65

The vote was extended further in a series of stages, as it became clear to the governing classes that gradual reform would not provoke violent revolution. They were persuaded that the cautious admission of more people to the franchise was the best way to avert such an upheaval.
However, property (owned or rented) remained the test for admission to the franchise throughout the Victorian era. It was not until 1918 that possession of the vote was treated as a citizen’s right,
and even then it was not granted to women on the same basis as men. Although class, gender and age remained obstacles to voting for centuries, ethnicity was never specified as grounds for exclusion from the franchise.

Question 66

Women’s suffrage pre late 19th century

Answer 66

The exclusion of women from the franchise was largely unchallenged until the late 19th century. It was assumed that married women were represented by the votes cast by their husbands. Illogically, women were allowed to vote in local council elections but not in parliamentary elections, on the grounds that only men should have a say in issues of national and imperial importance.

Question 67

When did situation with women’s suffrage begin to change? Emergence of suffragists

Answer 67

The situation began to change with the establishment of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) 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. There was evidence that the climate of opinion was changing by the turn of the century, but for more radical campaigners progress was too slow.

Question 68

Emergence and actions of suffragettes

Answer 68

Emmeline Pankhurst, a former suffragist who was supported by her daughter Christabel, formed the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903. 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.

Question 69

Reactions to suffragettes

Answer 69

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. Nonetheless, the suffragettes showed moderation in suspending their campaigning on the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

Question 70

When did women get the vote?

Answer 70

Female enfranchisement, admittedly on a limited basis, eventually came through the 1918 Representation of the People Act. The 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 - so they had no stake in the political system for which they were expected to lay down their lives. Women over the age of 30, who were householders or wives of householders, were granted the vote at the same time

Question 71

Effectiveness of suffragettes

Answer 71

The effectiveness of the two female suffrage movements remains controversial. Some historians have argued that the quiet, undramatic work of the suffragists has not been given its due, and that the violent methods of the suffragettes alienated potential supporters. Another line of argument is that the willingness of women to serve in vital industries during the war, filling the gaps left by
men on military service, persuaded the government of their fitness for the vote. However, the vast majority of female war workers were younger, unmarried women, who did not benefit directly from the 1918 legislation.

It seems likely that the suffragette movement was important because it kept the issue of voting rights on the agenda in the decade before the First World War. Politicians of all parties may have concluded in 1918 that, if they did not grant the vote to some women, the campaign would restart, in a political environment much more favourable to the idea of equality

Question 72

Votes at 16 pre 2014

Answer 72

The most prominent group still excluded from the franchise are 16 and 17 year olds. The Votes at
16 Coalition, formed in 2003, won an early success by securing a study of the issue by the Electoral Commission. Although the report came down on the side of no change, a number of individual Liberal Democrat, Labour and SP MPs kept the issue alive in the House of Commons. Labour MP Julie Morgan sponsored a private member’s bill in 2008, which ran out of parliamentary time.

Question 73

Votes at 16 2014-15

Answer 73

An important boost for the campaign came when 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, and the Scottish Parliament voted the following year to allow them to take part in its own elections. At UK level, by the time of the 2015 general election, all major parties except the Conservatives were in favour of extending the precedent. The Electoral Reform Society also supports votes at 16.

Question 74

Arguments against lowering of voting age (4)

Answer 74

-The Scottish referendum attracted unusually high levels of participation for all age groups, so is not a fair test. Levels of participation in UK elections are lowest for the 18-24 age group, so why would 16- and
17-year-olds be likely to set a new trend?
-Relatively few countries allow
16-year-olds to vote; rare examples include the Channel Islands, Brazil and Austria. They can vote in some elections in Malta, Germany and Norway. The UK is in the mainstream in continuing to deny young people the vote at 16.

-Some of these rights are limited in practice (for example,
16-year-olds need parental agreement to marry) and Few 16-year-olds are in full-time employment
-There is a strong argument
that at 16, young people lack the necessary life experience and maturity to vote. Relatively few take part in the Youth Parliament or in similar enterprises. Many would have their views determined by their parents or other adults.

Question 75

Arguments for lowering of voting age (4)

Answer 75

-We have other legal rights - to leave school, start work, join the armed forces, have sex, get medical treatment. So why not the right to vote?
-We have to have citizenship lessons in schools so we know about politics - and we can already take part in political debate. There’s even a Youth Parliament.
-If we could vote, more of us would take part in politics.
Three-quarters of us voted in the Scottish referendum. Catch us early and we’ll become voters for life.
-Having a vote would give us a say in issues that mean a lot to us, like university tuition fees. We’d make sure political parties think about our futures when they shape their policies too.

Question 76

Rights vs responsibilities

Answer 76

Citizens of a democracy enter into a contract with the state. It guarantees them certain rights, and in return they have obligations. Some are legal obligations, such as obeying the law, paying taxes and performing jury service. Others are moral responsibilities, include voting in elections and playing a part in protecting the environment, such as recycling. The notion of ‘active citizenship’ goes further, to include offering voluntary service to help the community.

Question 77

What are rights and are they new things?

Answer 77

‘Rights’ are legally protected freedoms, also known as civil liberties. In the UK these rights are now guaranteed by the 1998 Human Rights Act, but there was an understanding of people’s entitlement to them long before this. It was also broadly accepted that they might have to be limited in time of war or other major national emergency.

Question 78

Examples of rights

Answer 78

fair and equal treatment under the law, including the right to a fair trial and to peaceful
possession of one’s property, and to freedom from arbitrary detention
• freedom of expression in speech and writing
• freedom of conscience, including worshipping as one wishes (and not being compelled to take part in religious observance)
• vote, to stand for election and to join a party or pressure group
• belong to an association such as a trade union
• freedom of movement.

Question 79

Examples of more contentious rights

Answer 79

More contentious are ‘social rights’, including the right to education, employment, health care and welfare provision.

Question 80

Rights situation pre 1998

Answer 80

The notion of civil rights developed gradually over an extended period. Until 1998 there was no single document that positively set out citizens’ rights. Instead they were ‘negative rights’ - things people were entitled to do unless the law explicitly prohibited them. For example, people had a right to freedom of expression, subject to laws of defamation and blasphemy. Some rights were protected by acts of Parliament, while others were derived from custom or common law.

Question 81

List of major milestones regarding rights

Answer 81

-Magna Carta
-European Convention on Human Rights
-HRA
-Equality Act (2010)

Question 82

Significance of Magna Carta

Answer 82

a document drawn up in 1215, is usually regarded as the oldest statement of rights in the UK. It was presented to King John by nobles who disapproved of his tyrannical rule, and its original purpose was to limit royal power. Many of its clauses are now outdated, but the following excerpt has been widely hailed as the foundation of the rights of the citizen:
No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled; nor will we proceed with force against him except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.
This clause is regarded as establishing the right to trial by jury and to habeas corpus. This means literally ‘you may have the body’ in Latin: this refers to a court order to produce a person before court so that it can be determined whether he or she has been lawfully detained.

Question 83

Significance of ECHR

Answer 83

The European Convention on Human Rights was drawn up in 1950, with the UK as one of its signatories, by the Council of Europe (not part of the European Union). It was very similar to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, drawn up in the aftermath of terrible violations of rights in the Second World War. The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg to hear cases where people felt that their rights had been infringed in their own countries. UK
citizens were allowed to appeal to the Court, but it was time-consuming and expensive.

Question 84

Significance of HRA

Answer 84

. In 1998 the New Labour government passed the Human Rights Act, which incorporated the Convention into UK law with effect from 2000. These rights - including the right to life, the prohibition of torture or degrading treatment, freedom from arbitrary arrest, the right to a fair trial and rights to privacy and family life - could now be defended in UK courts without having to go to Strasbourg.

Question 85

Significance of Equality Act 2010

Answer 85

• The Equality Act (2010) brought together earlier pieces of legislation that had sought to outlaw discrimination and unfair treatment, such as the 1970 Equal Pay Act, the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act and the 1976 Race Relations Act. It identified nine ‘protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. It made it illegal for public bodies, employers, service providers and other organisations and individuals to discriminate against people on any of these
grounds. in the workplace or in wider society.

Question 86

Idea of rights-based culture

Answer 86

Since the passing of the Human Rights Act it has often been claimed that the UK has developed a
‘rights-based culture. All new legislation must be compliant with the act. Judges can declare earlier acts of Parliament incompatible with it, although they cannot legally compel Parliament to make changes. This is because of the all-important concept of parliamentary sovereignty.

Question 87

Indicator of growing prominence of rights

Answer 87

One indicator of the growing prominence of.rights has been an increased use of judicial review.
The number of reviews rose from around 424Q in 2000 to around 15,600 by 2013. Examples of successful challenges to government policies include High Court rulings that retired Gurkha soldiers should be allowed to settle in the UK (2008), and that the government had not consulted fairly on compensation for people affected by the planned High Speed Rail link (2013).

Question 88

What do defenders vs critics of judicial review argue?

Answer 88

Its defenders say that judicial review is a vital means of defending citizens’ rights, enabling the legality of government actions to be properly scrutinised; its critics argue that it places too much power in the hands of unelected and unaccountable judges.

Question 89

How have judges been seen to create privacy law? What’s wrong with this?

Answer 89

A prominent example of judicial review - sometimes called ‘judge-made law’ - is the issue of privacy. Judges have been accused of effectively creating a privacy law through the way they have interpreted the Human Rights Act. In a series of high-profile court cases, they appeared to give priority to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to privacy) over Article 10 (the right to freedom of expression), as claimed by the press. This occurred even though specific legislation on the subject had not been passed by Parliament, and it was not explicitly covered by common law. It seemed that wealthy individuals, who could afford to take legal action, had an unfair advantage.

Question 90

Examples of privacy law cases

Answer 90

For example, in 2008 the High Court awarded Max Mosley, the head of the Formula 1 motor racing organisation, substantial damages when the News of the World published a story about his sex life, which he argued had breached his privacy. On the other hand it is worth noting that Mosley failed in a subsequent action in the European Court of Human Rights, which refused to rule that newspapers should notify people before printing stories about their personal lives.

Question 91

Why does the right criticise the HRA?

Answer 91

For many on the right of British politics, a more serious fault of the Human Rights Act is the way that it seems to show favour to undeserving individuals, rather than protecting the legitimate freedoms of UK citizens. The Conservatives have argued for many years for the replacement of the act with a new ‘British Bill of Rights’, which would establish the supremacy of British courts over the European Court of Human Rights. The case of Abu Qatada (see Case study) illustrates the frustration caused by the way in which the Human Rights Act was implemented.

Question 92

What happened in the case of Abu Qatada?

Answer 92

Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric living in London since the 1990s, had made speeches justifying the use of violence to promote the Islamist cause and had served time in British jails. The security services regarded him as a threat and ministers wanted to deport him to his country of origin, Jordan, where he was wanted for trial. However, his legal advisers were able to fight deportation for eight years on the grounds that he might be tried using evidence obtained under torture, a breach of the Human Rights Act. Only in 2013, after the UK had signed a treaty with Jordan pledging that such evidence would not be used, was Abu Qatada flown back to face trial. He was cleared of involvement in terrorist bomb plots in Jordan. Nevertheless
the British authorities continued to view him as a dangerous influence.

Question 93

Intentions to restrict rights after 9/11 and 7/7

Answer 93

Perhaps the most emotive area where the rights of the individual have come into conflict with the priorities of government is that of counter-terrorism. The 9/11 terror attacks in the USA in 2001, and the 7/7 Underground and bus bombings in 2005, led to government measures that limited civil liberties in the interests of protecting the wider community. Ministers argued that they were entitled to detain terror suspects without trial on the grounds that a national emergency existed.

Question 94

Opposition and compromise regarding counter-terrorism rights restriction

Answer 94

In December 2004 the Law Lords (the highest court in the land before the creation of the Supreme Court) ruled that indefinite detention of foreign nationals, on suspicion of involvement in terrorism, was discriminatory. Faced with this legal challenge, the government passed a new law to introduce a system of control orders that enabled suspects to be closely monitored, such as through electronic tagging, a requirement to report to the police and removal of mobile phones and Internet access. Control orders were kept in place, despite adverse rulings by judges, until 2011 when the coalition government replaced them with a modified version known as Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs).
it would not be true to say that there has been an unremitting erosion of human rights in response to fears of terrorism. Some restrictive measures have been abandoned in face of parliamentary and public opposition. For example, in November 2005, the Blair government’s proposal to extend the period that a suspect could be held before being charged, from 14 to 90 days, was defeated in the Commons. The government then compromised on 28 days and abandoned a subsequent attempt to increase it to 42 days, following a defeat in the Lords in 2008. Under the coalition the 28-day period was halved, and the Labour government’s plan for compulsory identity cards was scrapped.

Question 95

Why have pro-human rights pressure groups had little success in deflecting government policy?

Answer 95

The public has been remarkably willing to sacrifice some liberties at a time of heightened concern over security. Governments have tended to place the safety of society above the protection of individual rights. This explains why pro-human rights pressure groups such as Liberty have had limited success in deflecting government policy.

Question 96

Example of Liberty group failures

Answer 96

For example, in 2013 the organisation failed to stop the introduction of so-called ‘secret courts’, which permit terrorist suspects and major criminals to be tried without the evidence against them being disclosed in full. Nor did they arrest the passage of the Investigatory Powers Bill - the so-called ‘Snoopers’ Charter’ - which increases the power of the intelligence agencies by obliging Internet companies to store information about customers’ browsing history.

Question 97

Howard League for Penal Reform success and failure

Answer 97

Similarly the Howard League for Penal Reform, which campaigns for the rights of prisoners, has struggled to persuade the government to implement its agenda. The rights of convicted criminals do not constitute a popular cause. However, the Howard League tends to win victories on relatively minor issues, such as securing a 2014 High Court ruling that obliged the government to drop its ban on prisoners’ families sending books to them. On the wider issue of securing a reduction in the size of the prison population the League has been less successful, noting in a review in May 2016 that ‘there is no public service in such disarray as the prisons’. As a rule, governments are unlikely to side with pressure groups that campaign for the rights of minority groups whom the wider public regards as undeserving of sympathy.