Democracy - Ways in which citizens can influence gov decision making, including pressure groups Flashcards
Factors
Vote, jojn a party, campaign, protest
LOA
This essay will argue that citizens are able to have a significant influence on the political system to a moderate extent
Vote
Citizens have a right to vote. This allows citizens a voice in who represents them. Citizens in Scotland can vote for MSPs, MPs and local councillors. In the 2021 Scottish elections, pro-independence parties won a majority in Holyrood. This shows that citizens can influence politics through voting directly supporting policies and/or representatives and voting out representatives they do not like or wish to keep in power. However, across the UK many votes are wasted due to ineffective working systems, including FPTP in UK general elections. In the 2019 general election, the conservatives won with with 365/350 seats in Parliament, with only 43.6% of the vote. This demonstrates that the nature of voting systems can mean voter intentions are suppressed and therefore the balance of power is mainatined by the larger parties, not the voting public. Therefore, citizens can influence the political system to a moderate extent. On the one hand, citizens can influence the political system by exercising their democratic right to vote, yet, due to the voting system in the country they are voting in, their vote might not be fairly represented and will largely depend on whether the system is proportional.
Join a party
Citizens who strongly identify with the politics of a party have the right to join the party. Citizens can then influence party policy as a voting member within the party. Many disgruntled members of the SNP left the party to join Alex Salmond’s newly formed Alba Party in 2021, aiming to gain regional seats in that years election. As a result, the SNP have refined their approach and policy towards seeking a second independence referendum, in direct response to losing part of their membership to a rival pro-independence party.
