Democracy and Participation (P1)

Question 1

What is democracy?

Answer 1

power held by the people

Question 2

What were the 5 principles of democracy? name the thinker behind these ideas

Answer 2

Dahl:
-Participation (opinions known)
-Voting equality (effective votes)
-Understanding (equal opportunity)
-Agenda Setting (equal ability)
-Universal (same rights)

Question 3

What are the two types of democracy?

Answer 3

direct and representative

Question 4

What is direct democracy? name examples

Answer 4

People make decisions directly, usually a simple response (e.g referendums citizens juries and petitions)

Question 5

What is representative democracy? name examples

Answer 5

People elect others to represent their interests and make decisions on their behalf (e.g elections for PCCs, MPs, Mayors etc)

Question 6

What are the two models of representative democracy?

Answer 6

Trustee - MPs act accordingly to what they think is best for the area
Delegate - MPs act to what the majority of their constituents want

Question 7

What are the three features of representative democracy?

Answer 7

Popular participation is:
-Indirect (choose representatives to exercise power)
-Mediated (link to gov through representatives)
-Limited (election every 5 years)

Question 8

What are the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy?

Answer 8

Strengths:
-Votes aren’t wasted
-Boosts participation
-More legitimacy and accountability
Weaknesses:
-Not legally binding
-Time-consuming
-Undermines representatives

Question 9

What are the strengths and weaknesses of representative democracy?

Answer 9

Strengths:
-MPs more educated
-Still held to account by voting out MP
-More stability and strong link
Weaknesses:
-Reduces participation
-Model of representation (trustee or delegate)
-Reduced political awareness

Question 10

What are the five types of representation for MPs?

Answer 10

-Constituency (most important)
-Social (occupations/characteristics)
-National interest
-Party (second most important)
-Casual (ideas of a social group)

Question 11

What is a participation crisis?

Answer 11

Not involved in political processes (voting, party membership, engagement etc)

Question 12

What is ‘hapathy?’

Answer 12

Voters being content with the gov therefore do not feel the need to vote

Question 13

What are the 5 factors that may determine the success of TT, Lobbyists and PGs

Answer 13

-Wealth
-Size
-Organisation/leadership
-In line with gov ideology
-Popular Support

Question 14

What are the different types of pressure groups?

Answer 14

Insider or outsider
Interest or cause

Question 15

What is an insider and outsider PG?

Answer 15

Insider - trusted and consulted by gov, usually select committees
Outsider - not consulted, issue goes against aims of gov, ideological choose to be on outside

Question 16

What is an interest and cause PG?

Answer 16

Interest - represent (professional) group who share common interests
Cause - a social cause within society

Question 17

What result can determine whether PGs, TT, Lobbyists are successful?

Answer 17

-Methods
-Impact of gov decisions
-Parliament bring up issues

Question 18

What is the British Medical Association (BMA)? name their methods and influence on gov

Answer 18

Insider interest - represent doctors to improve healthcare, campaigning and donations which have opened a formal ballot to stop strikes on pay dispute

Question 19

What is Just Stop Oil? name their methods and influence on gov

Answer 19

Outsider cause - wants UK to stop fuel projects, uses disruption and civil disobedience, little impact as Sunak granted 100 North Sea licenses

Question 20

What is the RMT? name their methods and influence on gov

Answer 20

Outsider interest - representing rail workers and their rights, uses strikes and surveys, gov revised pay offers which was accepted after 81% had train journey impacted with strikes

Question 21

What are civil liberties?

Answer 21

Rights and freedoms that exist for citizens of a particular state - to protect citizens from the state itself (e.g privacy laws, free education)

Question 22

What are human rights?

Answer 22

Exist for all humans wherever they may be, inalienable (cannot be taken away) and universal, (e.g basic amenities - shelter, right to life)

Question 23

How are civil liberties and human rights protected in the UK?

Answer 23

common law - judicial precedent under a principle of stare decisis, binding to lower courts
statute law - an Act of Parliament (e.g HRA 1998, Equality Act 2010

Question 24

What are the three elements of the rule of law, defines by A.V Dicey?

Answer 24

1. Gov should be limited by established laws
2. Everyone is equal under law
3. Law is upheld by an independent judiciary

Question 25

How are rights protected in the UK? (Themes)

Answer 25

1) An independent judiciary (CRA2005)
2) representative democracy (social contract)
3) supporting negative freedoms (absence of restraints - anything legal unless specified)

Question 26

What is a social contract?

Answer 26

entering a ‘contract’ with the state, whereby they protect your rights and in exchange you oblige to the laws of the state

Question 27

What did the Representations of the Peoples (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 do?

Answer 27

gave women the right to vote in parity with men

Question 28

What did the ECHR do and what year did Britain join?

Answer 28

1950 - European Convention of Human Rights set out a standard across the continent in which the UK became bound by the rulings

Question 29

What did the Human Rights Acts 1998 do?

Answer 29

Codified the provisions of the ECHR into British law, so that their rights could be defended in British courts

Question 30

What did the Data Protection Act 1998 do?

Answer 30

legal protections as to how peoples data was being handled by other people/organisations

Question 31

What did the Freedom of Information Act 2000 do?

Answer 31

allowed citizens to access government data within certain limits

Question 32

What did the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 do?

Answer 32

allowed same-sex couples to enter a civil partnership so that their relationship had legal status and gave them rights - as same-sex marriage wasnt legalised until 2013

Question 33

What did the Equality Act 2010 do?

Answer 33

ensured people could not be unlawfully discriminated against based on characteristics such as race, religion or disability

Question 34

What year was the Same-Sex Marriage Act and what did it do?

Answer 34

2013 - allowed same-sex couples a lawful marriage in parity to heterosexual couples

Question 35

What are individual rights?

Answer 35

Rights that belong purely to an individual (e.g right to privacy, freedom of expression, right to fair trial)

Question 36

What are collective rights?

Answer 36

Rights that belong to a group in society, usually looked at in one state as it is country-specific

Question 37

What rights are shown to be in conflict between individual and collective? (Themes)

Answer 37

1) Privacy - HRA and Snoopers Charter
2) Freedom of Expression - and hate speech, Lee v Ashers
3) National Security - conflict with individuals because of terror suspects, Ahmed v Treasury, Belmarsh etc

Question 38

What was the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998?

Answer 38

-entrenched rights into UK law - however a simple majority vote in Parliament can overturn it (Raab with weaker ‘British Bill of Rights’
-forces compatibility with future acts - however 2023 Illegal Migration Bill by Suella Braverman stated its incompatibility