Introduction and Basics

Question 1

what is democracy

Answer 1

It simply means rule by the people

Question 2

what does democracy mean for a democratic system

Answer 2

This means that in a democratic system, all eligible citizens have a say in government decisions and the creation of laws

Question 3

forms of democracy

Answer 3

Direct democracy
Representative Democracy

Question 4

direct democracy

Answer 4

Citizens themselves make political decisions directly. Today it involves the use of online petitions to parliament if a petition gets 100,000 signatures it is then considered for debate in parliament

Question 5

example of petitions

Answer 5

For example, the petition calling upon the Government to hold a Public Inquiry into the impact of Brexit was debated in April 2023

Question 6

other forms of direct democracy

Answer 6

The use of referendums and some use it a lot more than others. For example, the state of California had 7 referendums in 2022, this is good as it means that the will of the people is carried out but there is some worry about tyranny of the majority.

Question 7

representative democracy

Answer 7

This is where citizens choose people (politicians) to make decisions on their behalf and represent them. This is easier to use in modern society, the idea is that the public picks people who share their views and whom they think will represent them best, representatives are usually part of a political party that publishes a manifesto on what they will do if they are elected, those representatives will then debate and vote on issues on behalf of the people, and if they’re unpopular they can be voted out.

Question 8

does representative democracy work

Answer 8

Often candidates get less than 50% of the vote - low support but win the seat, similar things happen on a national level our current government got 43.6% of the votes