How effectively does democracy operate in the UK Flashcards
Positive aspects of democracy in the UK
- Free and fair elections
- Turnout
- Universal suffrage
- The party system
- Pressure groups
- Parliamentary sovereignty
- Devolution
Describe why Free and Fair elections are a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
the UK has a wide variety of elections, allowing citizens to choose representatives for a range of local and national bodies, and providing many opportunities for the public to participate in the democratic process and be educated by political campaigns
Describe why Turnout is a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
after hitting a historic low of 59% in the general election of 2001 turn out in UK general elections has been steadily increasing rising to 69% in 2017
Describe why Universal suffrage is a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
every citizen of the UK over the age of 18 has the right to vote unless they are prisoner mentally incapable or a peer.
Describe why The party system is a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
The UK has a wide variety of political parties and the numbers grown in the past 50 years. This gives voters a wide range of options.
Describe why Pressure groups are a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
the UK has thousands of pressure groups covering every issue possible. Pressure groups provide an alternative Avenue representation particularly small minority issues that might not concern a majority of the electorate or the party seeking majority support
Describe why Parliamentary sovereignty is a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
parliament holds legal sovereignty, which means that the chosen representatives of the people hold the ultimate power in making, amending, and repealing laws
Describe why Devolution is a positive aspect of democracy in the UK
The process of devolution has allowed the constituent parts of the UK (apart from England), along with many cities, to make decisions on a local basis.
Negative aspects of democracy in the UK
- Unelected elements
- Turnout
- The West Lothian question
- The voting system (FPTP)
- Lack of meaningful choice
- Elitist pressure groups
- Weaknesses of the Electoral Commission
- Lack of entrenched rights
Describe why Unelected elements is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
an unelected hereditary monarchy and an unelected House of Lords undermined the concept of representative democracy in the UK.
Describe why Turn out is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
while the UK has many elections, turn out is quite often below, leading to claims with participation crisis.
Describe why The West Lothian question is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
devolution is creating imbalance in UK politics, known as the West Lothian question. The question relates to the fact that Scottish MP’s (and Welsh, Northern Irish and London MPs, depending on the issue) they can vote on issues that do not affect their constituents but do impact other people.
Describe why a lack of meaningful choice is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
despite the range of parties competing, only two have realistic chance of gaining power in Westminster. As a result, many people vote for one of the two main parties.
Describe why Elitist pressure groups is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
pressure groups do not compete on an equal footing. A small number of pressure groups tend to dominate any political debate at the expense of other interests.
Describe why Weaknesses of the Electoral Commission is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
although the Electoral Commission overseas the elections, it is often a reactive, rather than proactive, body. In terms of comments, adverts, and spending, it tends to pass judgement and sanctions after event, meaning the message has already had its impact.
Describe why a Lack of entrenched rights is a negative aspect of democracy in the UK
without codified constitution, key rights can easily be overturned by the government without effective redress through the judicial system.
what parts of the voting system are negative aspects of democracy
- Wasted votes
- Safe seats
- unrepresentative
- winners bonus
- discriminates against parties with widespread support
- minority constituencies
- two-party system
Describe why Wasted votes are a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
any votes cast for a candidate who does not win in a constituency play no role in the selection of representatives in parliament, meaning they are effectively wasted
Describe why Safe seats are a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
some constituencies elect a candidate from the same party in every election and the level of support required to win the constituency is so high that voters see no point in voting for a different party e.g. Geoffrey Clifton brown in Cotswolds North
Describe why unrepresentativeness is a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
differences in the concentration of support across the UK means that the result of elections does not reflect the way the public voted, with UKIP winning 13% of the vote in 2015 but only 1 seat, while the SNP gained 56 seats with only 2% of the national vote.
Describe why a Winners bonus are a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
the system exaggerates the support received by the most popular party, which means the party receives more seats than is proportional to the number of votes it received, thus boosting its majority in parliament
Describe why discriminating against parties with widespread support is a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
parties with support spread across the UK but not concentrated in a geographic area will find it difficult to gain seats and therefore representation e.g. Green, Lib Dems, Reform
Describe why minority constituencies are a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
Denise constituencies, and MP wins the most votes but does not gain more than 50% of the total vote, meaning majority of the public did not vote for their representative
Describe why the Two-party system is a negative aspect of the First Past The Post voting system
a favourite parties have a lot of support spread evenly across the country in January result in one of the two main parties forming the government and the other forming an opposition or ‘government in waiting’
