UK POLITICS - Democracy and participation Flashcards
Define democracy.
A political system in which all citizens have an equal right to participate in society’s decisions about policy.
What are Dahl’s 5 key measures of democracy?
- Equal and effective methods of participation
- All person’s votes must be equal
- Equal and effective opportunity to learn about possible choices and their effects
- Oppurtunity to set the agenda
- Universal suffrage
When did the UK start as a democracy? When did it finally become one?
- Magna Carta 1215 was the roots of Western Liberal democracy
- The Equal Franchise Act 1928 satisfied the last of Dahl’s 5 requirements of a democracy: universal suffrage
What is the source of direct democracy?
Ancient Greek, specifically Athenian, democracy relied on the participation of all citizens in open assemblies to make decisions.
What are the 3 key features of direct democracy?
- The people themselves make policy decisions, rather than choosing who does on their behalf
- There is no seperate class of professional politicians
- People engage in politics regularly and as an ongoing activity.
Outline the three institutions of the Ancient Greek democracy.
- The Ekklesia: the open assembly where anyone could speak and debate on policy, though only some could hold attention, like Demosthenes
- The Boule: a faux-civil service of 500 men decided by drawing lots (sortition)
- The Dikasteria: 501 jurors chosen every day to resolve court cases
Why did the Ancient Greeks use sortition?
Filling public office via random selection was seen as more democratic as it could not be swayed with money or popularity.
What is a modern example of a direct democracy?
Although Taiwan does have a government with representatives, it’s incredibly low-bar for referendums since 2003 have given citizens unparalelled possibility to participate: in November 2018 alone, there was 10 citizen-led proposals.
What is the core issue with direct democracy that required the creation of representatives?
Only a small percentage of the population can or want to devote a serious amount of time to political issues - this way that small precentage can be elected to do the heavy lifting.
What are the three key features of representative democracies?
- Popular participation is indirect
- Popular participation is mediated via representative institutions
- Popular participation is more limited
What are the three features of fair, democratic elections?
- Freedom, fairness, regularity
- Universal suffrage
- Party and candidate competition
How has oppurtunities to vote increased in the UK?
- Universal suffrage since 1928
- Elections to devolved governments since 1998
- Increasing use of referendums
What are the 5 types of representation?
- Social
- National Interest
- Constituency
- Party
- Causal
Outline social representation. Give an example
The idea that representative bodies should be an accurate cross-section of the characteristics of their representees so as to represent both their views and the experiences. Not done incredibly well in the UK, though improving (Starmer’s cabinet)
Outline representing the national interest. Give an example
As representatives sit in a national Parliament, they are expected to promote causes and policies that will benefit the wider UK, even if to the detriment of smaller groups. (Adrian Ramsey and NIMBY accusations)
Outline constituency representation. Give an example.
Representatives are elected by their local constituents so in a more direct manner, should represent them. This is also easier than other types as people in the same geographical area will likely have the same issues and concerns to be addressed. (Jeremy Corbyn is one of the few independant MPs)
What are the 3 aspects of constituency representation?
- Representation of the whole constituency such as getting more funds
- Representation of individual constituents, also known as redress of grievances
- Simply listening to the views of constituents when voting on national issues
Outline party representation. Give evidence
When most people are voting, they are voting for the policy and leadership of the party, rather than their local represenative so that representative is best representing them when they are towing the party line. (75% of people don’t know their local MP (BBC, 2015))
Outline causal representation. Give an example
When an MP supports and promotes a specific cause (like LGBTQ+ rights or environmentalism) or the uplifing of a certain group (reugees or veterans). In this way, they are representing everyone by making the country better on the whole. (MP Johnny Mercer’s fervent support of Veterans and 2020 resignation due to the government’s inadequate support)
How can direct democracies be more legitimate?
Direct democracy and popular participation means that all laws genuinly are ‘the will of the people’ so can more easily be justified in a democratic system. Representative democracies and the distance between people and politics can lead to apathy. (Labour only actually gained 20% of the electorate’s vote)
How does direct democracy lead to greater personal development?
Direct and popular participation forces people to actively engage in politics, becoming more active citizens and working to better society under their perspective. Representative democracy has little to no participation so people often become apathetic and don’t care to learn.
(More than 50% of people talk about politics a few times a month or less)
Why would an end to professional politics be good?
Politicians often only seek to increase their own station, status, and wealth - not caring about the effect of their decisions on those they represent - a direct democracy would strike this possibility and increase the trust the public has in legislative decisions.
(In 2019, 63% of people felt the political game was rigged in the favour of the rich and powerful)
What is the efficacy issue with direct democracy?
It is not achievable on a large-scale: the 100,000 Athenians allowed to vote could more easily gather in one place and discuss than the 68 million UK citizens, instead we have a smaller number of representatives. Additionally, it’s about 1,000 km long.
What is the labour issue with direct democracy?
It requires citizens to devote a large amount of time to political education, often getting in the way of other responsibilities; the Athenian solution was slavery and having women taking care of family life (neither of which would take part in democracy (3/5 of the population)), not a great solution. The modern solution is to give the burden to a class of people who wholly devote themselves to it.