Direct or Indirect democracy Flashcards
Definitions
Direct democracy refers to the system where the people are able to make decisions on an issue, usually in the form of a ‘Yes’ or a ‘no’ answer. In this case there is constant participation. On the other hand representative democracy, the system currently used in the UK, is a system where people elect a person or group of people to represent their interests and make decisions on their behalf.
Line of argument
Direct Democracy is better.
1. Participation, engagement and education
2. More Representative
3. Legitamate decisions and tyranny of the majority
It does encourage participation, engagement and education
When people have the opportunity to become directly involved in decision making, participation increases. This results in better democracy, as the views of a greater number of the electorate is effecting decisions.
We saw this in the 2016 BREXIT referendum, in the UK this is the form that representative democracy takes. Turnout here was 72.2%, whereas in 2019 the election turnout was 67.3% and as low as 65.1% in 2010.
Scottish refferendum turnout was 84.6%
Furthermore there is likely to be much greater media presence on issues and education so people can make informed decisions, this will increase the populations knowledge and interest in politics and make them more inclined to participate in the future.
It doesnt encourage participation, engagement and education
Representative democracy does not necessarily promise greater participation in politics, the reasons for high participation in the BREXIT referendum is mainly because of the size of the ramifications of the decision. Leaving the EU was a major constitutional decision and had major ramifications across the UK. Previous UK referendums have shown that they can show ineffective participation when the issues are not as important.
The proposal to introduce AV was rejected by 67.9% of voters in 2011 by the national turnout was as low as 42%.
It is clear for this reason that representative democracy would be ineffective for minor policy decisions such as Legislation on very Niche areas such as Passports and driving license rules and law. Participation for these issues would likely be very low and therefore failing to carry out effective democracy.
It does make it more representative
A indirect democracy has lower representation of minorities, if this is the case how can we expect that the elected members will effectively protect the rights of minority groups and legislate in their best interests.
In the UK women make up only 29% of Parliament, compared to 51% of the general population. Ethnic minority groups make up only 6% of Parliament, versus 13% of the UK population. Similarly, 1/3 of MPs attended feepaying schools (compared with 7% of the population) and 90% attended university, much higher than the national average. 26% of Parliament attended Oxford or Cambridge, versus just 1% of the general population.
There is not just a issue with descriptive representation, but politicians in indirect democratic systems also fail to effectively represent the views.
In 2017 MPs voted 498 in favour of a bill that would allow ministers to begin formal negotiations to leave the EU, 120 of the MPs that backed the Bill represented constituencies that voted to remain and a further 9 who voted against the bill represented constituents who wanted to leave the EU. Indirect democracy does not work If MPs chosen to represent the beliefs and views of the electorate don’t do so effectively.
In a direct democratic everything from legislation and policy to major constitutional change such as leaving the EU would be voted on by the entire electorate, this means that people can express their opinions directly without being misinterpreted or simply ignored.
It doesnt make it more representative
On the other hand descriptive representation In the commons is improving and a indirect democratic system is very capable of achieving descriptive representation. The current UK parliament for example is the most diverse in the UK history. In 2019 a record 220 female MPs were elected to the commons. In 2019 1 in 10 MPs were of ethnic background, ten years prior the number was 1 in 40. Around 13% of the UK population is of ethnic background.
We can use reform such as All women shortlists in indirect democratic systems to achieve this, in 2019 labour returned more women than men (51%), Labour has used AWS to select its parliamentary candidates for 2 decades prior and this has led a much more representative parliament.
In the current system there is still a great amount of effective representation from MPs towards their constituents. There are 533 constituencies in England and the average population size, the average constituent size for the UK is 73,181. This means that MPs have a relatively small number of people that they can focus on, meaning they can undergo local representation and effectively represent the views.
There are more legitamate decisions
The decisions made in a representative democracy are much more legitimate, the government created by indirect democratic elections can lead to a illegitimate government to make decisions. On the other hand decisions made at referendums have support from the majority of the people.
The current UK government is operating on a mandate from the 2019 election, since then the conservative government has had three Prime Ministers. In October 2022 Rishi Sunak was made PM after Penny Mordaunt withdrew from the process. There are many questioning his mandate to govern.
The 2023 Illegal Migration Bill has aimed to end ‘small boat crossings’ in the UK, and has been described and criticized as ‘pushing against international law’, limited mention of this policy in the 2019 manifesto. So how legitimate is the current government to make such decisions?
In the 2011 AV referendum 67.9% voters opposed the new electoral system, this is a overwhelming majority not in favour and clear legitimacy to make such decision.
It doesnt provide legitamacy
There are questions over the legitimacy of referendum and representative democracy, the AV referendum had a turnout of 42% and in the BREXIT referendum 51.9% voted to leave the EU and still just under 30% of people did not turnout. The Legitimacy of representative democracy when the results are so overwhelmingly close does have to be questioned.
Furthermore although representative democracy allows for greater legitimacy because the whole population is allowed to directly give their vote, it allows for tyranny of the majority, where minority groups and interests have their needs and concerns overlooked when decisions are based on a majority vote.
Furthermore in a indirect democracy I would argue that the electorate have greater legitimacy to make decisions on the behalf of the people using the trustee model, this is because they are arguably better educated on the matter and have greater expertise in order to make informed decisions on policy. Currently in the commons 26% attended Oxford or Cambridge and 90% attended University of some form.
For example MP Nicola Morgan Nicky qualified as a solicitor in 1996, specialising in corporate law, and advised a range of private and public companies from 1996 to 2010.
