Electoral Systems Flashcards
Evaluate the view that referendums create more problems than solutions.
Intro:
1: form of direct democracy and through the use of the media contributes to encouraging participation + education.
- Due to the direct democracy of referendums, participation is encouraged as the public feel as though they have a real voice for change.
Example: 2017 UK general election -60% turnout while for the EU referendum 72.2% turned out.
- Evidently more engagement from the public over times where they directly feel they can make a difference, over general elections where they don’t directly tell parties what they want and only hold them to account from their manifestos.
- Causes for public awareness of these single issues which therefore creates a more educated public.
Example: EU referendum - 38 million interactions related to it from March 2016 to June 2016.
However: Issues put to question are too complex for the public to vote for in a yes/no format, along with there being too many factors that can easily influence voting wrongly such as timings of these or information given.
- Complexity of most constitutional issues for the public to have to understand and therefore referendums simply compress these.
Example: Questions such as ‘Should the UK remain a member of the EU?’ can also be seen as too vague, with many not knowing the implications either side.
2: Provides a clear indication to what the public opinion is along with then providing the ‘popular mandate’ to go through with whatever the decision is.
- Government may struggle to make decisions on some issues due to the importance of them; therefore needing public opinion.
Example: Labour government was divided on the issue of whether the UK should remain a member of the European Community - a clear result as 67.2% voted yes and 32.8% voted no on a 64.5% turnout.
- If there is a political deadlock from MPs, it’s better to give the public power and make a ‘popular mandate’ to the decision which they have to act upon.
Example: Divisions between Ireland and N.Ireland - clear need for support for the Belfast Agreement referendum in 1998 - 81% turnout and 71.7% voting yes while 28.9% voted no.
However: Can lead to the ‘tyranny of the majority’ - the minority can end up being undermined and the result can also end up binding future generations.
- Cases of low turnouts to referendums leading to low majorities, therefore lowering the legitimacy of the result.
Example: Referendum to change the electoral system from FPTP to AV in 2011 only had a 42.2% turnout with 32.1% voting yes but a majority of the small amount who voted chose no, which had 67.9%
3:
However: Divisions between countries in the UK
- Brexit is a massive example of referendums causing more problems than they solve
- Risks the breakup of the UK as Scotland voted to remain
- 52 vs 48% showed a deeply divided country
- tyranny of the majority
Conclusion: creates more problems than solutions.
Evaluate the extent to which the increased use of referendums would improve
democracy in the UK.
Intro: they would enhance democracy with a transformation of the electoral system from representative direct.
There is an argument that referendums do enhance democracy due to the direct democracy aspect of it that delivers a cause to encourage participation and education of the public. Along with being able to provide the clear mandate for single issues due to this participation.
1:ensures that people can vote without distorted rep by politicians, and help give quick and decisive responses and solutions
Example: Brexit
Example: Those that seemed to have less of an impact therefore got lower turnouts including 35.% for the 2011 Welsh referendum on primary legislative powers.
- evidently more engagement from the public over times where they directly feel they can make a difference, over general elections where they don’t directly tell parties what they want and only hold them to account from their manifestos.
However: the gov does get to frame the question and decide when to deliver it, maybe they are just smokescreens for democracy
Example: Cameron
- also, we elect representatives for a reason, the public can be ill-informed and MPs are trustees not just delegates
2: allowing debate on one particular issue, referendums help create a better informed electorate.
- improve democracy people would get more educated overtime.
- It would also increase civic engagement as the electorate would feel like their vote is not wasted like it could be in the FPTP system and so perhaps turnout would increase
Example: 2014 Scottish independence ref turnout was 84.5% (although the turnout was only 42% in the 2011 AV ref), 16 -24 year olds were had the highest turnout.
However: political education would only improve with repeated referendum use could lead to apathy and referendum fatigue.
Example: Turnout to EU referendum was lower in Scotland.
Example: Welsh Devo ref 1997, North East devo low turnout
- Additionally, people were not correctly educated in the 2016 EU referendum and misinformation, bias and scaremongering was rife and a biased media may create an unfair arena.
3: The increased use of referendums forces the government to listen to public opinion between elections and politicians are supposed to be representing the people
However: it may allow governments to absolve themselves of responsibility by handing decisions over to the electorate.
- The paradox is that the more governments lose referenda, the more they seem to call them. This leads to the suspicion that politicians use referenda merely to divest themselves of taking responsibility for political decisions.
Example: AV referendum has silenced the debate on electoral reform.
Example: Wilson 1975 European economic commission ref, just to unite party
Conclusion:
- Overall, this shows how referendums enhance democracy as they provide the public with a sense of more direct democracy, therefore providing a degree of self-governing. Along with this they also enhance public discourse through education of the single issues which then leads to higher turnouts to steer away from apathy.
- Overall, this shows how democracy is enhanced by referendums as they cause political deadlocks to break by proving a clear ‘popular mandate’ that the government needs to act on; with this also helping in cases where constitutional reform needs public consent.
Evaluate the criticisms that have been levelled against the use of referendums in the UK.
1: tyranny of the majority
However: Provides a clear indication to what the public opinion is along with then providing the ‘popular mandate’ to go through with whatever the decision is.
2: Issues put to question are too complex for the public to vote for in a yes/no format, along with there being too many factors that can easily influence voting wrongly such as timings of these or information given.
However: form of direct democracy and through the use of the media contributes to encouraging participation + education.
3: create divisions or voter fatigue/apathy
However: referendums help create a better informed electorate, improve democracy people would get more educated overtime. It would also increase civic engagement as the electorate would feel like their vote is not wasted like it could be in the FPTP system and so perhaps turnout would increase
