Wider franchise, Suffrage and Pressure Groups Flashcards
What is a suffrage/franchise?
The ability to vote in public elections
What’s an electorate?
The body of people entitled to vote.
What’s a ballot?
Another word for a vote. A ballot box is where you cast your vote.
What are constituents and a constituency?
Constituents - The people living in a constituency, represented by a MP.
Constituency - An area represented by a Member of Parliament. There is 1 MP per constituency.
Who isn’t entitled to vote?
1) Under 18’s.
2) EU citizens (apart from Irish), although they can vote in local elections.
3) Prisoners.
4) Those corrupted or of illegal electorate practices. They’re barred for 5 years.
5) Those in psychiatric care.
What happened during the Great Reform Act in 1832?
It redistributed the constituency seats more in line with population. Granted the right to vote to smaller property holders and tenant farmers in the counties. Created a standard £10 property qualification for voters in the boroughs. Despite this, still only 5% of the population were entitled to vote afterwards.
What year was the first time both men and women could vote?
1918
Give an example of the franchise trying to be extended
The 2014 Scottish Independence referendum - 16 year olds were temporarily granted the right to vote and it resulted in a much higher vote turnout
Who were the suffragists and suffragettes?
Suffragists - A group of women from British suffrage societies fighting for women’s right to vote.
Suffragettes - Founded by Emily Pankhurst as she was becoming impatient of the passive behaviour towards women and other groups.
What’s a pressure group?
A group seeking to influence government policy or business activity to secure its interests of their members and supporters.
What are the types of pressure groups?
Sectional groups (interest group), cause groups (promotional group), social movements (informally organised)
What’s the aim of a cause group?
They aim to promote issues of interest to its members and supporters in relation to the particular topic. For example Greenpeace seek to promote environmental issues and the Football Support Federation promotes issues for football fans like crowd control, ticket prices and stadium access.
There are 2 other types of cause groups. What are they?
There are single cause groups who focus on one specific cause, such as the RSPB who promote welfare, case and protections for birds. And there are multi-cause groups who focus attention on a wider range of issues under generalised leadership. The big example of this are trade unions which seek to influence policy in relation to workers.
What’s the aim of a sectional group?
They seek to promote the interests of another group in society. For example the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) represents interests of business leaders and entrepreneurs.
What’s the aim of a social movement?
Similar to multi cause groups, they are less organised, focus on a wider range of goals and aren’t as narrowly focused on one issue. For example The Occupy Movement has a variety of anti-capitalist views which includes higher taxes on the rich.
