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Politics (Edexcel) > Democracy and Participation (P1) > Flashcards

Democracy and Participation (P1) Flashcards

1
Q

What is democracy?

A

power held by the people

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2
Q

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

A

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

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3
Q

What are the two types of democracy?

A

direct and representative

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4
Q

What is direct democracy? name examples

A

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

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5
Q

What is representative democracy? name examples

A

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

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6
Q

What are the two models of representative democracy?

A

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

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7
Q

What are the three features of representative democracy?

A

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

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8
Q

What are the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy?

A

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

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9
Q

What are the strengths and weaknesses of representative democracy?

A

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

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10
Q

What are the five types of representation for MPs?

A

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

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11
Q

What is a participation crisis?

A

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

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12
Q

What is ‘hapathy?’

A

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

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13
Q

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

A

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

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14
Q

What are the different types of pressure groups?

A

Insider or outsider
Interest or cause

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15
Q

What is an insider and outsider PG?

A

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

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16
Q

What is an interest and cause PG?

A

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

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17
Q

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

A

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

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18
Q

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

A

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

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19
Q

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

A

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

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20
Q

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

A

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

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21
Q

What are civil liberties?

A

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

22
Q

What are human rights?

A

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

23
Q

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

A

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

24
Q

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

A
  1. Gov should be limited by established laws
  2. Everyone is equal under law
  3. Law is upheld by an independent judiciary
25
Q

How are rights protected in the UK? (Themes)

A

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

26
Q

What is a social contract?

A

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

27
Q

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

A

gave women the right to vote in parity with men

28
Q

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

A

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

29
Q

What did the Human Rights Acts 1998 do?

A

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

30
Q

What did the Data Protection Act 1998 do?

A

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

31
Q

What did the Freedom of Information Act 2000 do?

A

allowed citizens to access government data within certain limits

32
Q

What did the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 do?

A

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

33
Q

What did the Equality Act 2010 do?

A

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

34
Q

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

A

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

35
Q

What are individual rights?

A

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

36
Q

What are collective rights?

A

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

37
Q

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

A

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

38
Q

What was the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998?

A

-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

39
Q

How does the increase in pressue groups show a discontent with representation?

A

-RSPB has over 1mil members, larger than 3 main parties combined
-26% said they would pay to campaigning charity group in 2019, while only 11% said the same about political parties

40
Q

Figures for turnout decreasing

A

2017 - 69%
2019 - 67%
2024 - 59%

41
Q

Example showing partisan dealignment

A

Only 9% strongly associated with a party in 2015

42
Q

Arguments against democratic deficit/participation crisis

A

-More opportunities to vote, high turnout in refs
-Party membership resurgence
-Rise in PG and trade unions

43
Q

Examples for rise in party membership

A

Lab increase to 485k in 2019,
SNP increase from 25k to 125k in 2019

44
Q

Examples for rise in PG/Trade union

A

2.5mil working days lost to strikes in 2022 (all sectors), NEU strikes in 2023 with 450k members

45
Q

How have petitions been shown to improve democracy?

A

6.1mil to revoke Article 50, 1.1mil for Rashfords free school meals which led to gov u-turn, both increased participation

46
Q

How have petitions shown to not improve democracy?

A

2022 and 2024 GE petition (3mil) neither succeeded, 600k XL bullies petition, both demonstrate how parl remains sovereign and does not have to take action despite will of the people

47
Q

How have TT improved democ?

A

Policy expertise - Adam Smith Ins helped to formulate Thatchers poll tax, IFS published a report on how to tackle NHS waiting lists fiscally

48
Q

How have TT hindered democ?

A

Bias, politically aligned - Liz Truss ‘incubated’ in early years by IEA, took credit for her mini budget

49
Q

How have PG improved democ?

A

Participation - 1 in 10 people in 20233, 2.5mil working strike days in 2022 which have resulted in pay rises (UNISON 5% wage inc for paramedics)

50
Q

How have PG hindered democ?

A

Wealthy insiders as disproportionately benefitted - NEU received 6.5% pay rise 2023, BMA 22% for junior doctors across 2 years

51
Q

How have lobbyists improved democ?

A

Transparent - Lobbying Act 2014 said lobbyists should be regulated and in 2016 were banned from using gov grants to lobby

52
Q

How have lobbyists hindered democ?

A

Revolving door politics - David Cameron joined Greensill and lobbied officials to be allowed access to covid loans while he owned stocks in the bank, still returned as foreign sec despite scandal

Politics (Edexcel) (14 decks)

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