P1 T1: Democracy and Participation

Question 1

1.1 How do people exercise their democratic rights?

Answer 1

Voting, criticising, running as a candidate, teaching of politics in schools, protests

Question 2

1.1 Define Democracy

Answer 2

All the citizens are equally entitled to participate in the society’s decisions about its policies

Question 3

1.1 Define ‘Universal Suffrage’

Answer 3

The right for all adults to vote

Question 4

1.1 Define ‘Political Participation’

Answer 4

The involvement of citizens in politics through voting, party membership, or the activities of pressure groups, in order to shape policy making

Question 5

1.1 Why is democracy a revolutionary idea?

Answer 5

Throughout history, societies have been mainly ruled by a singular person and not by the people.

Question 6

1.1 What are the five key measures of democracy according to Robert A. Dahl?

Answer 6

Participation, voting equality, understanding, agenda setting of each representative, universal rights

Question 7

1.1 Define ‘Consent’

Answer 7

Assent or permission usually implies on agreement to be governed or rules

Question 8

1.1 Define ‘legitimacy’

Answer 8

Rightfulness or the ‘right to rule’

Question 9

1.1 Define ‘direct democracy’

Answer 9

People themselves make policy decisions, the people are the government, and people engage in politics on a regular basis

Question 10

1.1 Describe the direct democratic features of Ancient Athens

Answer 10

Ekklesia (assembly) - A body that voted on major decisions, anyone could attend, dominated by elite orators, like Demosthenes

Boule (council) - 500 men who met every day, served 1 year and were chosen by sortition

Dikasteria (popular courts) - 501 jurors chosen every day, still seen in the UK

Question 11

1.1 Define ‘sortition’

Answer 11

Random selection to fill public offices, a representative sample of the people

Question 12

1.1 Define ‘representative democracy’

Answer 12

Representatives speak and act on behalf of the people, chosen through regular and popular elections

Question 13

1.1 Outline the features of a representative democracy

Answer 13

Popular participation is indirect, mediated (people are linked to the govt. through representative institutions), and limited (people can only vote every few years)

Question 14

1.1 What are the rules for a representative democracy?

Answer 14

Freedom, fairness, and regularity

Universal suffrage - all adults can vote equally

Party and candidate competition - voters have a choice and can learn about alternative choices and their outcomes

Question 15

1.1 How have opportunities for participation increased in the last 25 years?

Answer 15

Devolved govt. elections since 1998

London Mayoral and Greater London Authorities Elections since 2000

Elections for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) since 1979

Question 16

1.1 What are the arguments for a direct democracy?

Answer 16

Genuine democracy with direct and continuous participation

Allows for the personal development of citizens

Ends reliance on a political class by returning power to the people

Creates legitimacy and stability with direct involvement

Question 17

1.1 What are the arguments against direct democracy?

Answer 17

Representative democracy is the only practical form of democracy

Representative democracy is more efficient

Representative democracy allows rule by experts who can make complex decisions

Representative democracy is built on compromise, maintaining political stability

Question 18

1.4 What are the three features of human rights?

Answer 18

Universal - everyone gets them

Fundamental - inalienable, a human’s entitlement to them cannot be removed

Absolute - must be fully upheld in all circumstances

Question 19

1.4 When is political participation meaningful in regards to human rights?

Answer 19

Political participation is only meaningful when carried out by free individuals who have human rights

Question 20

1.4 What did original civil liberties allow?

Answer 20

Allowed anything that was not illegal, reinforced by Magna Carta 1215, Representation of the People Act 1928 establishing universal suffrage, and common law

Question 21

1.4 What is the ECHR?

Answer 21

European Convention of Human Rights - drafted in 1950, protects human rights of people in countries belonging to the Council of Europe

Question 22

1.4 Why were the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) and the ECHR a huge improvement?

Answer 22

They established an equal international standard for how all humans should be treated

Question 23

1.4 In the 1960s, why were there concerns regarding human rights?

Answer 23

The powers of public bodies were open to abuse, particularly with treatment of immigrants and ethnic minorities - lobbying groups put pressure to reform restrictions on civil liberties

Question 24

1.4 In 1997, what did Labour do to close the gaps in human rights?

Answer 24

Declared in their manifesto that UK citizens should have rights to enforce their human rights in courts. Rights had a floor, not a ceiling, and could be enhanced by acts of parliament, e.g. Equalities Act to tackle unjustifiable discrimination

Question 25

1.4 What were the features of the Freedom of Information Act 2001? What was successful? What was unsuccessful?

Answer 25

Allows public access to information held by public authorities to create a more open and trusted government

+ves - 2005-2015, over 400,000 requests submitted
-ves - 90,000 of these requests were denied

Question 26

1.4 Outline the features of the company Liberty, give examples of their work

Answer 26

Largest civil liberty organisation with 10,500 members, campaigns for equality and fariness for human rights, mental health and disability rights, and privacy

e.g. Challenged Counter Terrorism Act 2000 to prevent stop and search without reasonable suspicion, opposed the 2006 Identity Card bill which was scrapped when the Coalition came into power in 2010

Question 27

1.4 What is the Equality Act 2010?

Answer 27

Made it easier to understand the law because it brought together 116 individual pieces of legislation on discrimination

Question 28

1.4 Define responsibilities

Answer 28

Duties towards others or society, e.g. tax, jury duty, abiding by the law, voting

Question 29

1.4 What is citizenship composed of?

Answer 29

Rights and responsibilities

Question 30

1.4 Why are tory and Reform politicians concerned about the growth of human rights?

Answer 30

People are concerned with what society owes them rather than what they owe society

Question 31

1.4 What rights can the UK not derogate?

Answer 31

Right to life, prohibition of torture, prohibition of slavery, no punishment without law

Question 32

1.4 What is a clash of rights and who resolves them?

Answer 32

Clashes between individual rights and collective rights which are resolved by the courts rather than politicians

Question 33

1.4 Summarise Ashers vs. Lee (2018)

Answer 33

Evangelical Belfast bakery did not have to make a cake that said ‘support gay marriage’, court rules the bakery did not refuse due to Lee’s sexual orientation so there was no discrimination

Many people see this as a win for free speech while others see it as a barrier for gay rights

Question 34

1.4 Summarise HMCI vs. The Interim Executive Board of Al-Hijrah School (2017)

Answer 34

The school segregated boys and girls from Y5 onwards, ruled against the students’ rights to be unable to interact with the opposite sex

Question 35

1.4 What are the 4 areas where there is a conflict of a clash of rights?

Answer 35

Sentencing laws (under the ECHR a life prisoner has to have possibility of release)

Treatment of prisoners (ECtHR ruled against a blanket ban on prisoners voting)

Terrorism (Labour policy, 2004, of indefinite detention of terror suspects ruled as a breach of HR)

Right to privacy (2008, ECtHR rules it was a breach of privacy for innocent people to have DNA profiles taken)

Question 36

1.4 Summarise the Howard League for Penal Reform

Answer 36

National charity that campaigns for safer communities, less crime, and fewer prisoners

2018-19 - £2.4m income, 42 staff, 30,000 followers on Twitter

e.g. April 2015 - campaigned against a universal £1,200 fine for anyone convicted of a crime - people pled guilty even if they weren’t to decrease costs

Question 37

1.4 KTD: How effectively does the UK’s democracy protect human rights and civil liberties?

Answer 37

FOR:
-UK has strong legal framework for protecting rights in the Equalities and Human Rights Acts
-Culture of respect for civil liberties in parliament and public bodies
-Strong commitment to human rights in society, public and pressure groups use the HRA to further Human Rights

AGAINST:
-New framework tilts balance too far in favour of rights detracting from efficient government
-Govts. led by both parties have patchy records, e.g. Partygate scandal where not all rights were universal
-Growing criticism of the HRA and the ECtHR, with proposals to amend the HRA and replace with a British Bill of Rights