Democracy In Scotland Flashcards
Devolved matters
P- one devolved matter the Scottish parliament has responsibility for is education. E- this means msp’s can discus and change the Scottish education system. E- For example the Scottish education system stopped exams in 2020 because of Covid-19. E- another example of devolved a devolved matter is healthcare for example in recent years NHS made prescriptions free due to Covid-19’s pandemic
Two rights individuals have in democracy
Individuals in Scotland have the right to protest. They can hold demonstrations against laws they disagree with. For example, people who disagreed with the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, such as the pressure group Fans Against Criminalisation, held marches and demonstrations in Glasgow as part of their protests against this law.
Another right is to vote
Individuals have the responsibility to register and vote to vote in the Scottish election
For example anyone over 16 and registered can officially vote
Reasons why parties use social media
Political parties use the media during election campaigns in Scotland to gain support. They hope this will give them a better chance of winning the election. For example, during an election campaign, Scottish Labour may use social media such as YouTube to promote their policies by posting short video clips.
Advantages of ams
P- one advantage of ams is it’s a fairer system as it’s seen more proportional. E- this means that it’s seen as fair because it produces a close maths between shares of votes and shares of seats. E- for example in the 2021 election snp won 47.7% of votes and nearly 50% of seats
Another advantage is it gives smaller parties more chance. E- as the vote is more proportional and so the number of votes a party gets is closely linked to number of seats the smaller party’s have more success. E- for example in 2021 Green Party and Lib-dem got 12 seats between them.
Disadvantages of ams
Voters can get confused by two votes. Some voters don’t know how to complete the ballet paper and think and think the have to vote for the same party. For example pink ballet paper is for FPTP and orange is party and region
It can lead to an unstable and weak government. Because there is no majority they needed to negotiate with the other parties to pass any laws that they want. For example the minority SNP government of 2016 found it difficult to get its budget approved for 2017/18 and so had to negotiate with other parties eventually agreeing more money for councils in return for votes from the greens.
Why some groups are underrepresented
A reason women are underrepresented is because of sexism. This is because there classes as second best as in men are better and more suited to parliament. For example the 2021 Scottish election had the record number of women elected, 45% of scotlands 129 msps are women
A reason ethnic minorities are underrepresented is racism. This is because of the color of there skin and there nationality this is why people don’t think there suited for the job. For example in 2016 only 2 men mps were from an ethnic minority. This is 1.6% of all msps compared to Scotlands 4% of ethnic minority
A reason people choose not to participate
One reason is they think there vote won’t matter. Some people choose not to vote in elections as they might believe in thousands of votes there 1 won’t make a difference. For example if someone supports a smaller party they might think there is no point in voting as that party usually gets no seats
Key features of democracy
One key feature of democracy is the government is elected by the people. This means that people in Scotland have been free to choose who they want to run there country by voting in the election. For example millions of people over the age of 16 were able to vote in the 2021 election were snp fell 1 seat if majority
Roles and powers of first minister
On power of the first minister is that they have to final day over government decisions. This means that the first minister can pick and choose what stays and what goes and her final decision is what happens. For example in in 2020 under 19s are getting free bus travel in Scotland.
Another power/role of the first minister is to set rules. This means the people in Scotland must follow the first ministers rules or consequences could take place. For example during the Covid-19 pandemic first minister nicoal sturgeon stopped schools from running and started home schooling
