democracy and participation final exam

Question 1

what are the features of dirrect democracy in the Uk

Answer 1

• refurendoms
• E- petsions
• 2015 MP recall act

Question 2

what are the features of repreentaive democracy

Answer 2

• voting in elections for any sort of governing body
• party leaderhsip elctions

Question 3

essay plan comparing dirrect and represenative democarcy in any way

Answer 3

para 1 = rep is better
* specialsit officials
1. the cival servise, PM’s advisers, access to specialist interst groups and highly educated, 85% have degrees and MP’s often with specilist backgrounds, E.g sarah wolstone who headed the health and social care select committee was a GP of 20 years
2. ballence of conflict of interests protecting minority rights vs tyrany of the majority
in election we are able to vote for compitent specialists with tools to make educated dessions in areas we lack information.
* however, current governemtn lack diversity and soci
1. 29% are privatly educated vs just 8% of the public
2. they lack the expirence of the general public and thus ablillity to make dessions on there behalf.
this means that they may lack the abillity to make thougth after dessions on the behalf of the electorate
* Conclusion: however, a more compelling arguement is the trustee model and their educationa nd resorces heling them to do this better.

**para 2 = dirrec t is better **
* prevents tyany of governemnt
1. 2003 Iraq powers resolution passed despite being highly unpolular ( BBR 122 and 350,000 preotest by the stop the war in iraq coallison)
2. parliament is soverign so if the government have a substancial majority they can enact what ever policies tehy like
* however accountabillity
1. every 5 years chance to replace MP and goverment if the public dont like how they have acted
2. and 2015 MP recall act allowing for a bi-election to be called if 10% of consituents sign a petison and MP has
3. e.g. chris davies breckon and radnorshire 2019, false expensise claims
* conclusion, therefore rep is ok

Para 3= rep democracy is better
* impossible on a large scale and would cause a democratic defacite
1. peopel dont have the time to reseach and vote on every bill
2. when there is a democratic overload in society it atully decreses participation
3. police compissioner turn out has reached as low as 17%
* however low turn out in elections is low and generaly high in refurendoms
1. for example sice turn of the millenia participation in elctions not above 70%
2. however in brexit 72% and scotish inderpendence 85%
3. this suggests taht if you give the power of dession making to the peopel they are more likly to engage
* conclusion: however more compelling agrumemt is that its becuse thy are inspired contensiosu issues peopel care about,
1. e.g. welsh devolution ref - 50.3%

Question 4

what % o MPs have a degree and why is thi relevant

Answer 4

• 85%
• shows that tehy are highly educated specialists

Question 5

MP recalled under the 2015 MP recall act + why and what is this relevant to

Answer 5

• chris davies - breckon and radnorthshire
  1. flase expensises
  2. accountablilltity
  3. dirrect democracy

Question 6

give the key milestones in relation to suffurage/ the franahcise

Answer 6

• 1832 The Great reform act - gave teh vote to middle class men
• The representation of teh peoples act
  1. 1918- all men over 21 and women over 30 with propperty
  2. 1928- all men and women over 21
  3. 1969- anyone over teh age of 18

Question 7

when was teh great reform act

Answer 7

1832

Question 8

what was teh suffrigets slogan + what does this realte to + example

Answer 8

• deeds not words
  1. emily davidson jumpign infornt of the kings horse
• historical sufurage

Question 9

widening teh franchise to 16- 17 yaer olds essay plan

Answer 9

para 1- the franchise should be widned
* 16-17 having a stake in society and adult resonscbillities
1. they can pay tax, join the army, get married and have to pay adult prices on things
should have a say in the rules they have to abibe by
* however they have a much smaller state in society than most adults and their responcabillities are exadurated
1. all teens have to be in at least part time eduction of some form till 18 so likly arnt paying tax
2. need parenatl permission to join teh army at 16
* con: therfore it would be unfair for teens to be able to vote when most things they would be voting on woudlnt aplly to them

para 2- should be widended
* unfair we cant vote on issues that realte to our future
1. Brexit will have implication finalcially and socially for years to come
unfair that these will effect us but we had no say in teh matter
* 16-17 yr olds lack the informed knowledge and likfe expirence to make these dessiosn as well as that some already can vote
1. for example in scotland voting age for scotish parliamnt is 16.
2. as most 16 year olds dont ahve to pay tax, have a morage, pension etc they cant make educted dessions in regards to these things.
* conclusion: therfore, franchise should actully srink back down in all places to amke it fair and allow for greater artioanl desion making

para 3- shouldn’t be widended
* low tuen out
1. isle of man turn out in 2016 was 46% and 18-24 year olds turn out was 47% in 2019
2. this would exadurate teh issue of low turn out in elctions, furtherunderminign the democratic legitimacy of the result
* however, there seems to be an apetite for expansion of the franchise and 16-17 year olds are engaging alot more through social media and presure groups
1. britsih youth counsil with over 200 member organisations and over 16,000 membours
2. youth cliamte strikes
3. significant as it suggest young people are educting themselfs and care about politcs
* conclusion: should be widened

Question 10

what was turn out in the isle of man between 16-17 year olds in …….. and in 2019 what was teh turn out of 18-24 yr olds and whats the rellivance of this

Answer 10

• 46% - 2016
• 47% - 18-24, 2019
• relates to expansion of teh franchise and reform of democracy

Question 11

what are the methods a presure group might use to achive success + ( give an example of success + failer incase its a evaluative question)

Answer 11

• insider status
  1. no - BMA- failed to lobby gov on not implementing the 7 day NHS
  2. yes- NFU on bager culls in glostoshire and sommerset desipte public support of the badgers trust
• mobalising public preasure, e.g. through social media and epetisons or celeb endorsments
  1. yes- Green peace 2016 ban micro beads campeign success, or johana lumly gurkha justice campain
  2. no- The stop the war colallision failed in preventing iraq, despite mobalsing mass support and having protests of over 350,000 people.
• cival disobediance
  1. no- animal rights actovists dug up someones grandma inorder to raise awareness of gunipig “halocaust” as they were bread for animal testing. - jailed for 12 years
  2. almost compleet failer of nurses strikes since decbre of 2022
  2. yes- trade unions - strikes can prove effective 1978-79 wintre of discontent may industries striked in light of callehand 5% pay rise cap to being down inflation, this was succesful in many case - ( rare with conservatiev gov tehy are listened too)
  1. however a long time ago

Question 12

whats an exaple of a succesful strike and what does this link to ?

Answer 12

2. trade unions - strikes can prove effective 1978-79 wintre of discontent may industries striked in light of callehand 5% pay rise cap to being down inflation, this was succesful in many case
3. relates to methods of interest groups to exert change under cival disobedience

Question 13

what factors effect if a PG is succesful + exaple and countre exapel

Answer 13

• insider status and expertise
  1. no- BMA 7 day NHS
  2. yes- the stone wall in repealign section 28 under blair and The marrage act 2013, arguablly become a insider since there had been a greater foccus on inclusin in society with cocial media
• lareg meambourship/public support
  1. the microbeads campeign lead by Greenpeace, resulted in government ban of microbeeds in all cosmetics by 2018 - 140,000 signitures green peace uk has almost 400k on instagerm
  2. The stop the war colallision failed in preventing iraq, despite having protests of over 350,000 people
  3. not all mebours are always pollitically active for exaple the national trust has 3.4 million mebers but alot are “checkbook members” (in in for the benifits of the membership) + social media making engament too easy and meaningless
• wealth and funding
• fund campeins, offices and lobbiest and make party donations, ( relates to corparations as tehy may fund think tanks and lobbiest, e.g. cug companies and forrest like malbra)
  1. for exaple The ASH PG and Friend of the earth have been ale to set up large offices in Edinburgh and Cardiff to lobby th enew devolved assemblies and widen their influnce - scoltand is now aiming for net 0 by 2040 as apposed to rest of the uk thats 2050
  2. Forrest, a Smokers rigths PG that is funded to lobby on behalf of large corperate cigaret companies have repeatedly faield to repeal and prevent government resictions on cigarets. For exple 2010 they lobbies the government to introduce plain packaging but by 2011 this campei had failed
  celebrty indorcements
  1. Joanna Lumney in the success of the Gaukha Justoc eCampein (helping Gaukhas reisve the sam eright sas British and commonwealth citozens)
  2. However paul McCartney teamed up with peta to stop animal testing, been unsuccesful.

Question 14

how many instam flowers does Green peace UK have and how many peopel signed their petision to ban microbeads in the uk and why is this rellevant

Answer 14

• almost 400k
• 140,000 people
• realtes to public support/ membership of interst groups making them more influencial

Question 15

give an exaple of a failed celeb endorcement of a PG, and what si this relevant to

Answer 15

paul McCartney teamed up with peta to stop animal testing, been
celbeb endorcemnt as a way for PG to exert greter influence

Question 16

example of think tanks

Answer 16

• forrest
• green peace as invensts in stratergy

Question 17

evaluate the succes of rights protection essay plan

Answer 17

para 1- bad
* rights can be over ridden and chanaged
1. july 2022 the government tried to repeal and replace the HRA with a loser bill of rights, primarily in regards to freedom of speach for instance.
2. However hasnt got past second reading due to huge public outcry
3. this is beause rights in the uk are not entrenched in a codified bill of rights, rather they are simply codified in statuete laws taht only need a majority vote in the common to overturn.
* arguably good for rights protection as it means rights can adapt to protect wider groups of society that perhaps before maybe werent recognised
1. for example the 2010 Equallity act protecting Trans peoeple from discrimination

**para 2- bad **
* lack of protection from the tyrany of government
1. Gov has challenged rights arguablly on many occasions, for example, the 2016 investigtory powers act making it very easy for them to obsatin infomation from the public,
2. tradunions act 2016 against artical 11 right to aemble and assosiation as 40% vote of union needed to call a strike
1. parliamnet is soverign meaning that if they want to enact policy that is countre to or somewhat challenges curenst rights laws tehy are able to do so
* however, they are regularlly held to acount by the public in elections
1. For example, the brow gov implementation of ID cards in 2006 was very unpopular and seen to challenge the individuals righst.
2. further more they passed the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 which was one of the many attempts of government to pass the policies encompusesd in the ANti terrorism crime and security act which had been declaired incompatable with the HRA by the law lords along with a numbre of its predisesser bills. IT was critisised to challnge both artical 9 and 10 of the HRA as it implied to be banning certain religous texts as well as freedom of expression though banning hate speach.
3. however electoral turnover isnt just about, acountbaillity it also relies on a numbre of factors such as the competancy of the other side, and current political circomstances. it was more lily brown was replaced due to people somewhat blaming the government for the 2008 crash.

**para 3- good **
* there are a numbre of bodies taht hold gov acountable to repect rights, especially significant since the creation of supream court in 2009 due to the con reform act 2005, media, PGs and when we were in the EU teh ECHR
1. in 2010, the supreme Court declared that homosexuality could provide grounds for claiming asylum in the UK if the claims came from countries where being homosexual resulted in persecution.
2. 1. Abu Qatada was a radical muslim and susspected terrorist British jail, he was wanted for trial in Jordan. but his legal team fought deportation for 8 years on the presmis that it breached the HRA clause on freedom from torture ( artical 3) witch would likly occure if he faced trial in Jordan
* how gov is soveign so can ignore declarations of incombatabillity if tehy want
1. 2011 gov voted aginst prisoner righst to vote 234/11 despite the ECHR declairing that thsi was incombatble with european convention of human rights in 2005 hirst vs the UK
2. the whole thing with the anti terrorism crime and security act and belmarsh prion

Question 18

by how much did htop level judicial review rise between 2000 and 2013

Answer 18

from 4000 cases in 2000 to 15,000 in 2013

Question 19

what was a widly disliked act of teh brown governemnt as it challenged rights realting to artical 9 and 10 of teh HRA

Answer 19

The racial and religious hatred act 2006

Question 20

give an exaple of a PG lobbing around rights + why is this rellvant

Answer 20

liberty on Id cards ( so they were a thing 2006 - 2010)

Question 21

who is involved in rights protection in the UK + exampel ofsuccess and failer

Answer 21

• parliament/ legistation
  1. HRA 1998, Equallity act 2010, f
  2. gov attempt to reapleal and replace HRA in july 2022 with less stringent bill of rights
  3. inveigatory powers act and trade unions act 2016
• The judicary
  1. Success- Abu quada - Othman v UK (ECHR)
  2. 2010 homosexuals protected for assyle,m seeking in teh uk if they are under thret in thier country -
  1. failer- hirst vs UK and 2011 234/22 prioner rights to vote legistation
  2. Anti terrorism crime and security act law lords 2005 decloration of incompatablity
• Pg’s and the media
  1. liberty and id cards ( 2006-2010)
  2. the stone wall in repealign section 28 under blair and The marrage act 2013, arguablly become a insider since there had been a greater foccus on inclusin in society with cocial media
  3. liberty failed capain at reaplealing the investigtory powers act 2016

Question 22

what was Abu quadas court case known as

Answer 22

Othman v UK (ECHR)

Question 23

give an exaple of PG failing at rights protection

Answer 23

liberty 91,000 signature petison against the public order bill 2022 failed to make any sort of chages to the bill. The bill limits peopels rights to public protest as tehy cant be seen to be causing any kind of major dispruption, especillay to transport networks. agruably against artical 10 and 11

Question 24

give examples and countre exaples of where righst conflict

Answer 24

• invividaaul and collective
  1. antiterrorism crime and securty act 2005 declaired incompatable with actical 6 but arguablly was needed to ensure artical 5 liberty and security of the collective
  2. artcal 3 of abuquadas indervidaual right vs artical 6 ( Othman v UK )
  3. inderviduals right to privacy vs investigtory powers act
• expression thought and religion vs discrimination
  1. the racial and religoious hatred act 2006 ( hate speach atical 14 vs freedom of expression artical 10 )
  2. Lee v Ashers bakery ( artical 9 vs 2010 equallity act and the right to not be discriminated against for your sexual orientation) ( couple refused to make cake supporting gay marrage) (couple lost originally but won appeal)

Question 25

what is a pluralist democracy

Answer 25

A pluralist democracy describes a political system where there is more than one center of power.

Question 26

if the Uk were described as a pluralist democracy where would the centres of power be

Answer 26

• Govment
• parliamnet
• PG and the Public
• Supream court
• media

Question 27

f

Answer 27

n

Question 28

to what extent is there a crisis of partisipation + conclusion

Answer 28

intro: yes traditional no alternate = somehwat in need of reform/crisis of particpation but only in regards to traditional

**para 1- yes voting **
* low tuen out in alot of refs and elections
* epetiosns + some refs have high TO

para 2- yes party membership
* decresed partymembership
1. conservative 1950s - 2.9 mill vs 122,000 in prior to the 2015 election and labour went from about 1 mill to 182,000 in 2015
2. this is an issue for the legitama y of part leaders in leaderhsip elctions as well as it sugegsts peopel feel less aligned with the views of the differnt parties
* incresed PG membership and PP is on the rise
1. after corbin L mebership went up to 552,000 and coservative has since risen to 172,000
2. 40-50% of peopel are a membour of at least one PG
3. peopel are engaing in differnt ways
* conclusion- however check book members

para 3 - yes
* decrese in strikes and trade union membership
1. 13 mill in teh 80s to 6 now
2. wintre of discontent there were wide spred strikes across all the private and public sectors. e.g counsil and ford motors
2. used to be much more regular strikes, almost
3. suggest more political apethy
* gov has made this harder and there has been a rise in protests by PG’s and strikes recently in 2022 and 2023 and may union have srunk as we have more towards a more indervidualistic knowlege economy
1. 2016 trade unions act 40% voteneeded to striek or teh 2022 public order bill, so protestors cant block roads or cause public desrupotion in their protests.
1. BLM protest during Covid, youth climate strikes and the first ever nurses striek on the 15 th of decbre 2023 as well as royal mail and natioanl express strikes
2. shows people still care to demonstrate though cival unrest even if it has been made harder.

**conclusion: yes traditional no alternate, people have and have lost fairth in gov rather than it being political apethy, this does not suggets a crisis of participation as its more of an active disengament which in it’s self is an political statment of antipathy. This suggest that traditional dirrect democracy in the Uk is in need of reform such as though electoral reform to inspire greater engament as voter turn out is low allwoing legitimise the actions of government. However, the incresing pluralsit nature of democracy though PG and the pulblic taking back controle though epetisons and protests somewhat mittigates this need **

Question 29

what does antipathy mean

Answer 29

extreem dislike of something

Question 30

list all the suggested methods of reforming UK democrcy

Answer 30

• an elected second chamber
• expansion of teh franchise to 16 and 17 year olds
• further devolution (english devolution)
• electoral reform
• incresing the power of recall
• e-petsions triggering an automatic parliamentry vote
• digiatl democracy

Question 31

what are the differnt aims of reforming UK democracy, ( not amendments to teh Uk con

Answer 31

• increse democrtisation and enagemnt by making politicians more responsice to the will of the people

Question 32

j

Answer 32

h

Question 33

whats teh word for there beign a lack on democratic engament by teh population

Answer 33

democratick defacite + voter fatigue

Question 34

what type of democracy do we have

Answer 34

pluralsit and representative

Question 35

what does zeitgeist mean

Answer 35

spirt or the mood of the time

Question 36

what is the PG that is forrests opersition

Answer 36

Ash

Question 37

what are two common political polls sources

Answer 37

• You Gov
• the department of national statstics

Question 38

what % of the uk population have fairth in the national governemnt? who is this according to ? and what is this rellevant to ?

Answer 38

• 35%
• the department of national statsistcs
• political antipathy

Question 39

what % of brits reported themselves as very worried about the enviroment acording to what source

Answer 39

• 75%
• department of national statistics

Question 40

whats wrong with the 2015 MP recall act

Answer 40

• stringent circomstances
  1. 10% of constuents need to vote
  2. mp has to be supended from commons for upwards of 21 days or sentesed to prison

Question 41

evaluate the effectiveness of representative democracy in the UK

Answer 41

policy specialists and quallified officials
1. Sarah wolstone, GP for 20 years, head of thehealth and social care select commitee from 2014-2019
2. 85% of thoes sitting in the commons have a degree
3. teh governemt also has access to te cival servsie, a group of highly trained researchers who devote all their time to doing so.
* this is significant as it means that politicians are better able to formulate or scrutineise policies in a way that simply would be inpossible and is impossible when soverignty is pooled to teh people in dirrect democrcy. E.g. the brexit refurendom.
lack of soial rep
1. 29% vs 7% privatly educated
2. 32% women
3. 8% vs 18% BAME
* this runs off the idea of socialogical representation which is a part of the idea of the deligate model of representaion. It suggests that MP’s aught to be a mouth piece for the view of there constituents and o do this effectivly they need to refect the social idenity of the consituents, so they can undertand and represent theyre backgroud and views. Clearly by these statistics this is not the case in our respresentaive democracy.
* ** However:** one could argue this is possibel without an MP having a simillar backgroud to their consituents as its still possibel to understand and empatise with peopel from differnt backgrounds
the trustee model
* the idea that Mp’s jobs are to represent peopel by acting in a paternal way, taking advantage of there exerptise and doign what they persive as best for their constituents.

parliamentry soverignty vs polular soverignty
* once a MP gets swarn into parliament they are able to act with the fully powers of parliamentry soverignty, irregardless of the view of their constituents.
* for exampel: Chris Bryant mp for Rhondda voted aginst triggering articL 50 despite the view of his consituents who vote predominatly leave in the 2016 brexit refurendom.
* This is an issue as it demostrights how parliemtry soverignty can undermines the delgete model of representive democrcay and teh idea of popular soverignty where the elctorate place power in representive on thir behalf.
* However the trustee model
accountabillity
* despite this politician are regularlly held accountbale in general elections every 5 years so consituents can vote in a new rpresentative if they weren’t happy with the one before
1. there is also the 2015 MP recall act that allows for the electorate to call bi election by a 10% ballot of constituents if the MP has been supspened for over 21 days or convicted of a criem

issues with FPTP
* FPTP is arguably an inherrantly flawed system that challenges teh democratic nature of representive democracy. This is because it it is a plurallity system on a consituency by consituency basis; all a candidate has to do to win a seat is win more votes than the next candidates. This means that sometimes an MP may only represnt a small portion of the electorate. On a larger scale it mean governemt can get into power and donimate the legislgtive process with only a small portion of the vote
1. for exaple, Alisdair McDonnel o belfst South n with 24.5 % of the vote.
2. Firthermore in 2015 the conservative goevernemtn got into power with 51% of the seats and only 37% of the vote
MP consituent links/ redress of grevances
* however, thsi doesnt nessisarilly mean that MP’s acnt represrnt their consituents who didn’t vote them in. Anyone can contact their MP dirrectly and voice their conserns (as there are MP conituents links). This is known as redress of grevances and it can acount for change bothe on a nation and local scale being made.
1. for exampel Emma hardy of hull west spoke with local homless shelters in 2020 and manged to secure regular covid tests and hygein equitment for them during the pandemic.