Forms Of Democracy

Question 1

What is representative democracy?

Answer 1

• people vote for elected representatives who have knowledge + skill to make often difficult + complex decisions on their behalf
  -representatives able to take broader views on issues + balance effectively competing issues
  -representative gov’t more efficient than laying numerous decisions + laws directly before public who may not understand

Question 2

What is direct democracy?

Answer 2

-directly involving public in policy decisions - commonly associated with referendums
-e.g. direct democracy with whole of uk for vote on continued membership of EU + whole of uk for EU referendum in 2016
-in 1979 + 1997 Scotland + wales proposed introduction of devolution for their own gov’t

Question 3

What are e-petitions?

Answer 3

-form of direct democracy
-enable members of public to identify with + raise issues with gov’t
-a petition with over 10000 signatures receives response form gov’t
-one with over 100000 signatures is considered for a debate in parliament
-e.g. 2019 6 million signature in petition to revoke Article 50 + have uk remain in EU it failed in changing gov’t mind