Democratic Deficit Flashcards
Define democratic deficit.
A perceived deficiency in the way a particular democratic body works especially in terms of accountability and control over policy-making.
What are positive democratic features of the UK political system:
1) Devolved governments in wales, NI and Scotland as well as elected mayors in major cities; decisions closer to the people. (As does use of referendums).
2) Independent judiciary.
3) Free media, politically neutral broadcast media and free access to the internet.
4) Wide range of parties and present groups.
What is evidence that there is a democratic deficit?
1) First Past The Post system- unlike the proportional representation used in many eurpoean countries the UK uses FPTP which means there is little representation of minority view points in parliament, it is also disproportional making it unrepresentative in general resulting in limited legitimacy for example, in 2015 UKIP got over 4 million votes and just one seat and in the same 2015 general election the government at that time only received 38% of the votes.
2) The house of lords is an unelected body and can still exercise power and halt bills proposed by the commons. For example, house of lords can halt no non-financial bills for up to a year and financial bills for a month. There are times where allegedly people have become members of house of lords due to bribery e.g. Peter Cruddas gave over 3 million pounds to conservative party before Boris Johnson made him a lord, he then donated a further £500,000.
3) Lack of protection for citizens rights. The ECHR arguably provides inadequate guarantee for the rights of citizens in relationship with the state as governments can officially state that parts of the act have no legal authority in certain situations. For example Right to free elections, this is not always enforced in the UK e.g. prisoners do not have the right vote many of which feel their rights are being violated e.g. John Hirst began a legal campaign in the 1990s to restore prisoners right to vote however the high court dismissed this challenge in2001 but Hirst launched a new appeal under the HRA which was successfully upheld by European courts of human rights in 2005 although to this day prisoners don’t have the right to vote.
3) Control of sections of the media by rich wealthy unaccountable business interest e.g. Rupert Murdroch.
