essay plans Flashcards
fptp
FPTP is not proportional, it underrepresents minor parties and their voters, PR systems don’t
FPTP has safe seats, which discourage turnout, PR systems do not
FPTP has risk that one party wins most votes nationally, but another party most seats
FPTP produces clear majorities in the HoC and strong governments
FPTP has a clear link between 1 MP and their constituents
FPTP excludes extremists
referendums
Referendums give decisions more legitimacy; more democracy
Referendums offer more opportunities for participation
The general public may lack the knowledge to
take complicated decisions, or can be
misinformed
Referendums often have low turnout, which
undermines their legitimacy
Referendums do not give representation to the
minority, as representative democracy does;
they provide a ‘tyranny of the majority’. This is
especially problematic in case of a narrow result
Referendums undermine parliamentary
sovereignty
Frequent referendums can be inefficient:
expensive and time-consuming
fptp impact on voting and politics
Impact on politics
FPTP tends to produce a 2-party system (because it inflates the size of the largest parties), PR a multi-party system
FPTP tends to reduce turnout (because it has safe seats)
FPTP leads to tactical voting (because the preferred party often does not have a realistic
chance of winning a seat)
Impact on government
FPTP tends to produce single party majority governments, PR coalition governments
FPTP tends to produce adversarial politics, PR politics of compromise
