Evalutaing Representative Democracy Flashcards
+ Practicality
+ Limited popular participation is more practical
+ Decisions made much quicker by a small collection of representatives
+ For example, in the USA there are around 220 million voters. Consulting them all on every issue would be unmanageable.
+ Professional politicians
+ Better knowledge, education and experience
+ Potentially more rational
+ Prevents Tyranny of the Majority. For example, in March 2015 the Slovenian parliament gave marriage equality to gay couples. The matter went to a referendum in December and the people voted to take away the right.
+ Rapid decision making
+ A small group of politicians can make swift decisions
+ Especially important in times of emergency
+ Response to 9/11 would have been much slower had every citizen been consulted
+ Fatigue
+ Prevents voters becoming exhausted. Turnout in Switzerland is low as a consequence.
+ Relieves burden
+ Still some level of popular participation
+ Accountability
+ Public can easily hold representatives to account
+ Clearer who is responsible
- Participation
- Low levels of participation
- Power is taken away from the citizens to the representatives who can then take unpopular decisions i.e. Iraq or raising tuition fees
- Forced to accept whole manifestos rather than vote on policies
- Party discipline
- Representatives depend on their parties
- The whip system means that representatives can toe the party line rather than do what their constituents want
- For example, the LibDems voted to raise tuition fees based on the wishes of their party, not their voters
- Detatchment
- Politicians become separated from real people. Only 26% of people trust the government, one 2017 survey suggests
- Representatives do not reflect the social composition of the country. Most MPs are white, middle class, middle age, highly educated straight males
