1. Democracy and Participation. 1.2 Franchise and Participation Crisis

Question 1

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
VOTES TO 16/17 YEAR OLDS
What are 3 arguments that they should be given the vote?

Answer 1

1. Scottish referendum, research shows that 16/17 year olds have higher rates of turnout than 18-24 year olds
2. matters will directly affect them
3. will encourage civic mindedness/political interest

Question 2

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
VOTES TO 16 YEAR OLDS
What are 3 arguments that they should not be given the vote?

Answer 2

1. lack of experience and too young to understand
2. lower interest of 18-24 year olds have the lowest turnout, why would 16/17 be different
3. would be impressionable and influence easily

Question 3

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY:
VOTES TO PRISONERS
What are 3 arguments to give the vote to prisoners?

Answer 3

1. ECHR ruled that they should change the law (John Hirst took his to ECtHR in 2005 and won)
2. might take more civic responsibilities
3. increase turnout (73,000 eligible)

Question 4

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What are the 4 milestones?

Answer 4

1. 1832 Great Reform Act
2. 1918 Representation of the People Act
3. 1928 Representation of the People Act
4. 1969 Representation of the People Act

Question 5

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What 2 things did the 1832 Great Reform Act do?

Answer 5

• extend the franchise to around 800,000 people (1/5 males)

- redrew constituency boundaries

Question 6

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What 3 things did the 1918 Representation of the People Act do?

Answer 6

• made women over age of 30 eligible for first time
• (subject to minimum property qualifications)
• extending vote to men over 21

Question 7

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What 3 things did the 1928 Representation of the People Act do?

Answer 7

• women and men over age of 21 could vote
• eliminated the property qualifications for women
• (added 5 million more women to the electoral roll)

Question 8

MILESTONES IN EXTENDING FRANCHISE

What did the 1969 Representation of the People Act do?

Answer 8

• 18 year old women and men could vote

Question 9

PARTICIPATION CRISIS

What is the concept of ‘active citizenship’?

Answer 9

• Blair introduced it
• expected to become more aware, involved and vote in elections
• becoming involved in community action and promote their own issues

Question 10

PARTICIPATION CRISIS

What are the 3 main indicators of declining participation?

Answer 10

1. falling election turnouts
2. declining party membership
3. partisan dealignment and declining activism within parties

Question 11

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
What is are 2 implications of falling election turnouts?

Answer 11

• the government does not attract attention of the people anymore
• the government has less of a political mandate

Question 12

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
What was the general elections turnout in 1997? and in 2010 and 2017?

Answer 12

1997: 72%
2010: 65%
2017: 69%

Question 13

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
What is the EU average general election turnout?

Answer 13

75%

Question 14

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
Give 2 comparable statistics that demonstrate the voting apathy amongst 18-24 year olds?

Answer 14

2015 election:
18-24: 43%
65s+: 78%

Question 15

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
Give the 2016 turnout for the Scottish Parliament and London Assembly

Answer 15

Scottish Parl: 56%

London Assembly: 46%

Question 16

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Falling Election Turnouts
Which 2 other types of elections are below average in the UK?

Answer 16

Local Elections
rarely reach 40%

EU elections
EU average is 43%
UK average is 34%

Question 17

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What are the implications of declining party membrehsip?

Answer 17

• harder to find and recruit candidates

Question 18

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What proportion of the population was a member of a party in 1980 versus 2016? When was it the lowerst?

Answer 18

1980: 4.12%
2016: 1.6%

2010 was lowest at 0.8%

Question 19

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What is a statistic showing that Conservative membership has declined? And a statistic that argues it has increased?

Answer 19

decreased:
almost halved since David Cameron elected in 2005
1998: 350,000
2015: 150,000

increased:
2014 - saw a 30% increase after £1-a-year supporters

Question 20

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What is a statistic showing that Labour membership has declined? And a statistic that argues it has increased?

Answer 20

decreased:
lost equivalent of 27,000 members since 2010

increased:
changed after 2015

Question 21

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Declining Party Membership
What are 5 effects of falling memberships?

Answer 21

1. 1.5% of electorate are members
2. UK has lowest rates of membership amongst EU democracies
3. shortage of candidates
4. decisions made by a narrower, distant majority
5. parties rely on donations from wealthy people

Question 22

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What is ‘partisan dealignment’?

Answer 22

refers to the declining bond between party and the voter

Question 23

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What are 2 statistics to show partisan dealignment? And what does the British Social Attitudes 2009 survey say?

Answer 23

1964 - over 40% felt ‘very strong identification’ with political parties

2001 - less than 5%

Survey:
60% ‘almost never’ trust politicians

Question 24

PARTICIPATION CRISIS
Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism
What are the implications of partisan dealignment? What are the implications of reduced activism?

Answer 24

• decline in party loyalty
• more likely to shift vote
• volatile and inconsistent voting patterns
• fewer citizens are fully aware of how the voting/electoral system works

Question 25

PARTICIPATION CRISIS Partisan Dealignment and Reduced Activism What is a statistic that shows reduced activism? What did the 2012 Hansard survey say?

Answer 25

39% claim to be knowledgeable about politics Hansard survey: 42% have interest in politics

Question 26

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS | What are 3 counter-arguments to say that there is not a participation crisis?

Answer 26

1. more opportunities to vote 2. increased membership of parties 3. rise of pressure groups

Question 27

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS More Opportunities to Vote What are 4 more opportunities voters have to participate?

Answer 27

- EU elections - more frequent referendums - devolved institutions (1999) - directly elected mayors (1999) - Police Commisssioners (2012)

Question 28

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS More Opportunities to Vote What does the turnout of referendums and GEs state about opportunities to vote?

Answer 28

GEs and referendums are on a general trend of rising | since all time low of 2001

Question 29

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS More Opportunities to Vote How is the UK's participation compared to other liberal democracies?

Answer 29

largely average US is 56% Canada is 62% UK is 69%

Question 30

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Increased Party Membership While it is true the main parties have suffered since the 1950s (with a few earlier exceptions such as £1 a year for Cons and gains for Lab), why can it be seen that party membership has increased?

Answer 30

other parties have gained popularity

Question 31

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Increased Party Membership What other parties have gained members?

Answer 31

2015 - SNP doubled members to 120,000 2014 - UKIP has 42,000, up from 9000 in 2008 2014 - Scottish Greens have more than tripled their membership in 2014

Question 32

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Increased Party Membership When and by how much did the Labour party gain members?

Answer 32

When: - run up to 2015 leadership contest - after election of Corbyn - in wake of EU referendum - after relatively successful GE How much: - July 2016 - on course to hit 600,000 - 610,000 applied to vote in Labour's leadership contest

Question 33

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Increased Party Membership What are the implications of increased party membership?

Answer 33

- demonstrate interest - form of activism - shows a public mandate of some sort

Question 34

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Rise of Pressure Groups What are the implications of the rise in pressure groups?

Answer 34

- public is still interested - channelled their participation to alternate forms - participation levels have changed rather than fallen

Question 35

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Rise of Pressure Groups Over the past 2 decades, what has there been unprecedented growth in?

Answer 35

1. the number of pressure groups 2. the number of people joing the PGS 3. the intensity and scale of PG activities 4. E-Democracy adn social media

Question 36

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Rise of Pressure Groups Give 3 statistics that indicate the high levels of people joining pressure groups

Answer 36

RSPB Wildlife: 1million+ Friends of the Earth: 200,000 Countryside Alliance: 100,000

Question 37

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Rise of Pressure Groups Give examples of how the intensity and scale of PGs activities has grown?

Answer 37

Stop the War Coalition 2003: 1-2 million marching Direct action: student campaign against the hike in tuition fees Extinction Rebellion

Question 38

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Rise of Pressure Groups Give examples of where people can participate in E-Democracy

Answer 38

E-petitions social networking 'hacktivism' (use of technology to promote a political agenda)

Question 39

CA: THERE ISN'T A PARTICIPATION CRISIS Rise of Pressure Groups Give 2 statistics that show how widely used e-petitions are.

Answer 39

2016: peition calling 2nd EU referendum was signed by 4.1 million 2016: 50 petitions received more than 100,000 signatures more than 35 debated in parl

Question 40

PARTICIPATION CRISIS | What could be your conclusion for both sides of the argument?

Answer 40

overall participation has declined due to continuing statistics indicating this the nature of political participation may have changed rather than decline

Question 41

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY: Compulsory Voting What are 3 arguments in favour of this?

Answer 41

1. gov could claim greater legitimacy 2. political participation is a civic duty (would have educational implications) 3. the geater the level of political partiicpation, the greater the likelhihood that citizens will think/act like full citizens

Question 42

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY Compulsory Voting What are 3 arguments against?

Answer 42

1. compulsory voting would simply mask deeper engagement issues 2. could encourage non-serious voting 3. it could be considered a violation of individual freedom

Question 43

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY eDemocracy What are 3 arguments in favour of this?

Answer 43

1. citizens can express their views without having to leave home 2. enlarges citizens' access to information, making truly free exchange of ideas/views 3. genuinely democratic process where citizens become active

Question 44

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY eDemocracy What are 2 arguments against this?

Answer 44

1. the risk of hacking could undermine the legitimacy of elections 2. it threatens to turn erode its importance

Question 45

REFORMS TO UK DEMOCRACY | What are all 6 possible reforms to UK democracy?

Answer 45

1. compulsory voting 2. voting to 16/17 year olds 3. eDemocracy 4. greater use of referenda 5. changes to voting system 6. constitutional reform