Democratic and representative democracy Flashcards
What is representative democracy?
a form of democracy in which voters elect representatives to make political decisions on their behalf. These representatives are then held accountable to the electorate in regular elections.
What is an advantage of representative democracy?
-accountability -many lib dems lost seats in 2015-not scrapping tuition fees but tripling them -lost in young supporters
-representatives can be experts =Yvette cooper is chair of high-profile home affairs select committee focuses on immigration crime civil rights
-gives voice to minority =parliament has extended the rights of human rights act and freedom of info act
-trains future leaders=johnson prominent roles in cabinets of both Cameron and May
-practical for complex issues =covid 19 pandemic-weigh up issues=the covid act of 2020 was passed in just 4 sitting days=shows how representative democracy allows politicians to make quick decisive decisions =allowed them to consult experts such as Chris witty=British epidemiologist serving as Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019.
What are disadvantages of representative democracy?
-reps dont always do what people say=lib dems tuition fees =tripled after voting
politicians can be corrupt =Fiona Onasanya +Ian Paisley
minority voices not always heard =mps voted down proposed amendments to bill authorising withdrawal from the EY i 2020 that would be have protected child refugees
not all voters get rep they want=FPTP-smaller parties not represented
political parties dominated by MPS serving own agenda =after claiming there was “no magic money tree” for public services in the 2017 GE May =Conservatives signed deal with DUP promising 1 bill investment for NI in return for support
What is direct democracy?
form of democracy where citizens themselves, rather than their representatives, make political decisions.
(Most modern example is a referendum)
What are advantages of direct democracy
everyone has say-EU ref 2016-more than 33 mil voted
-equal weight to all voters-in ref all votes are counted -side with most votes win-EU ref 52% leave
-encourages genuine debate -electoral reform society -indy ref conducted openly
-encourages popular participation-refs often exceed GE turnout-indy ref had 85% turnout 2019 GE had 67%
reduces the chances for corruption and the peoples will not being followed
What are the disadvantages of direct democracy ?
people are not politically educated enough to make their own decisions without a representative=on the day of the EU 2016 referendum the most goggled question was what was the EU
Tyranny of the majority
corruption would still exist as evidant with Johnson and the brexit bus 350 million= manipulated the figures to fit the leave narrative misleading people + the leave campaign by around 700,000 =illegal
recall of mps act 2015
Ian paisley jr and Fiona Osywana
if mp imprisoned, suspended for HOC by standards committee or false expenses =petition by 10% of constituencies =by election
How much has Labour party leadership increased by and why
-2014 190,000 to 552,000 2018
-Ed Miliband “one member one vote”
-grassroots enthusiasm=Corbyn
what are the similarities between direct democracy and representative
what are the differences between direct democracy and representative
