direct and representative democracy

Question 1

what is a direct democracy?

Answer 1

when individuals express their opinions themselves and not through a representative.

Question 2

2 advantages of a direct democracy

Answer 2

-high legitimacy as the people are making the decisions
-peoples voices are heard

Question 3

3 disadvantages of a direct democracy

Answer 3

-minority groups are ignored (tyranny of the majority)
- some issues are too complex for citizens to understand
-many citizens don’t care for politics, and therefore only a small amount of people would contribute, not a fair representation of everyone

Question 4

what is a representative democracy?

Answer 4

when the people vote for an individual to represent their interests, and the representative holds themselves accountable for constituents

Question 5

3 advantages of a representative democracy

Answer 5

-representatives have expertise to be able to make better decisions
-representatives have the time to properly care for these issues
-it’s efficient

Question 6

disadvantages of a representative democracy

Answer 6

-representatives might not always act in the interests of the public
-can lead to the public disengaging in political or social issues

Question 7

what is a liberal democracy?

Answer 7

where the leaders answer to the people, restricting the government from over powering the people

Question 8

the peaceful transition of power

Answer 8

there must be a peaceful transition of power to maintain a democracy

Question 9

fair elections

Answer 9

the idea that everyone has one vote and all votes are of equal value. there are also safeguards in place to avoid ballot rigging (when the outcome of an election is influenced by extra ballots or misplacing ballot boxes for the outcome of an election

Question 10

widespread participation

Answer 10

it is important to have large participation in politics to ensure that the population is well informed and involved in current politics

Question 11

freedom of expression, association and information

Answer 11

it is important for there to be freedom of expression, association and information to as it is their civil liberty

Question 12

what are some similarities between direct and representative democracy?

Answer 12

• peoples opinions are valued by both systems
• public consultations and petitions happen in both to ensure the government is representing the people

Question 13

what are some differences between direct and representative democracy?

Answer 13

• in a direct democracy, people make decisions through a referendum instead of through elected bodies
• direct democracy is majoritarian (there is a risk of tyranny of the majority), whereas a representative democracy takes all groups’ interests into consideration

Question 14

conclusion to similarities of direct and representative democracy

Answer 14

Although there are similarities between the two different systems of democracy it is clear they are very different when analysed. Direct democracy seems to be the purest form of democracy however it can lead to bias and sometimes give the public too much power to make mistakes. Representative democracy by contrast can result in people being wrongly represented.

Question 15

advantage and disadvantage of replacing the HOL with an elected chamber (debate for UK democratic reform)

Answer 15

(+) would remove an unelected, unaccountable body from the UKs democratic process

(-) what replaces it might cause greater rivalry with the HOC, leading to gridlock

Question 16

advantage and disadvantage of replacing FPTP with a more proportional one (debate for UK democratic reform)

Answer 16

(+) would remove negative features of FPTP like safe seats, minority constituencies and wasted votes

(-) proportional systems make coalitions more likely and are more complex

Question 17

advantage and disadvantage of codifying the UK constitution (debate for UK democratic reform)

Answer 17

(+) would provide a higher law that would be entrenched rather than the flexibility of the current constitution

(-) it would raise the question on who would write the laws and who would hold the most power, and it would give more power to unelected judges

Question 18

advantage and disadvantage of introducing state party funding (debate for UK democratic reform)

Answer 18

(+) allows politicians to focus on their own job rather than fundraising

(-) issues with where the money will come from, taxpayer? would be too controversial as they would be funding parties they don’t support

Question 19

advantage and disadvantage of introducing compulsory voting (debate for UK democratic reform)

Answer 19

(+) would increase the turnout of elections, improving the legitimacy of elected officials

(-) forcing people to vote may not encourage people to engage more in politics