Democracy and participation - unit 1 Flashcards
Democracy
The ‘rule of the people’ based on 2 core principles:
- Political participation - key political decision
- Political equality - each citizen has the right to a voice and a vote
Direct Democracy
- Individuals express with their opinions themselves, not through people acting on their behalf (such as MPs)
5
Advantages of direct democracy
- Purest form of democracy
- Can avoid delay/deadlock
- Greater legitimacy and authority
- Decisions made by the people - difficult for future gov to control
- Educates people on political issues
3
Disadvantages of direct democracy
- Tyranny of the majority
- Swayed emotionally
- Complex issues
Representative democracy
People vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives - elected by a group of people
Forms of representation
- Social rep - characteristics of the pop
- Causal rep - issues they care about, community, not partic group
- Constituency rep - elect a rep
- Party rep - modern democracy characterised by politic party
- National interest - cmon
Advantages of representative democracy
- Can develop expertise to deal with matters the public doesn’t have time/knowledge to deal with
- Can be held to account in elections
- They have the time to deal with complex matters
- A practical way to translate the public opinion into political action
4
Disadvantages of representative democracy
- May not act in best interests
- Can be difficult to hold them into account
- Public may disengage from social issues
- Unrepresentative, can ignore the needs of minorities
3
Strengths of elections in the UK
- Free and fair
- Allows all choice, multiple parties
-Devolved governments, proportional rep, constituencies rep - Keeps out extremist parties
3 all with evidence
Weaknesses of elections in the UK
- Bad turnout - 2019 general election - 67.3%, 1950 - 83.9%
- FPTP - unpresentative - wasted votes
Lib Dems - 2017, 2.4M votes, scattered across the country, 1.8% seats - 12 seats - 68% of votes wasted - Safe seats - seats guaranteed for a party - ‘electoral desert’
Horsham has been conservative since 1880 - making it the longest held conservative seat
3
Potential reforms
- Introduce state party funding - removes need for money, mps focus on main jobs but removes connection and question where alloctaed
- Replace the HOL with an elected chamber - removes unelected, unaccountable, may cause greater rivalry - experience replaced with career politicians
- Codify the UK Constitution - clarifies processes, so no flexibility but too rigid, too many q
Votes at 16?
Positives - higher turnout, no longer older majority cohort, may be more informed - social media, we can serve in the army and get married SURELY
Negatives - may lack ability and motivation to participate in electoral process, excessively radical, complex issues
Overall judgement - yes, more representation
Look at revision work
Compulsory voting?
Positives - higher turnout and democratic response, more rep if all sectors vote, policies must ensure they address all parts of society, civil duty
Negative - may vote for the sake of voting - not moral judgement, favours larger parties
Overall judgement - no, not fair anymore
Digital voting?
Positives - easier for people to vote, can help communities who are geographically viable, quicker - justice and bills made earlier
Negatives - Older may not understand, faulty connections, false elections from hacking - cyber attacks
What is a pressure group?
A membership based organisation whose aim is to influence policy making without seeking power, through pressure
Types of pressure groups
Sectional groups - represent a particular section of society, limited membership, motivated by self interest
EG National Union of Teachers
Promotional groups - based on shared attitudes or values, rather than common interests of its members - altruistic concerns
EG Amnesty International, Friends of the Earth
Insider groups - close links with the government - early stages of law making and policies, employs profesh lobbyists
EG National Farmer’s Union
Outsider groups are the opposite - such as Greenpeace
Extinction Rebellion case study
- Non violent , mass participation, civil disobedience that is extremely disruptive
Gluing themselves to doors, blocking the roads, and key bridges during rush hour by laying in them, going underneath and chaining themselves to trucks
To push the gov to take action to avoid tipping points in climate change, biodiversity loss and societal and ecologival collapse
Wants to achieve Net 0 by 2023, Public attention and initiate a climate emergency but often alienates the public and often requires large physical exertion
Main aims and what they do
Oxfam case study
Main aims - gender justice and the rights of women and girls, climate justice, accountability and sustainability, and gradually eradicate poverty - they are insider and promotional
They work with communities, lobby, campaign globally, and as shops, receiving donations of clothes, homeware, music etc to sell which raises money to fund the charity
Definition and example
PG Method - Lobbying
Insiders who are listened to by decision makers will sit on policy committees locally, nationally, inter, they seek to foster relationships with councillors for mayoral offices to help provide opportunities to lobby for power
EG -David Cameron lobbying for Greensill once he’d left office and, in 2018, become a paid adviser to the firm.
Text messages sent to Chancellor Rishi, making the case for Greensill to be part of a key coronavirus business lending scheme. Although Cameron’s pleas were ultimately rejected by the Treasury, Sunak told the former Conservative leader he had “pushed” officials to consider the proposal.
Cameron acknowledged he had learned “important lessons” from the row and say he should have engaged Sunak “through only the most formal of channels” to ensure “no room for misinterpretation.” Yet Cameron also pointed out he was “breaking no codes of conduct and no government rules.”
PG Method - public campaigning
Public demonstrations of support to convince the gov to listen, mass demon, e-petitions, celebrities
EG Age UK using elderly lonliness - billboard, Emma Stone joining protest against loosening gun safety laws 2017, UN Climate change ambassador Leonardo Di Caprio
PG Method - Working with MPs and political parties
Financial grants to influence policy - mainly conservative
to the Confederation of British industry
Trade Unions finance Labour Party such as the CWU - Communication Worker’s union in post and telecommunications
PG Method - Media Campaigns
PG Method - Use of illegal methods
Press, TV, radio campaigns
EG Marcus Rashford - free school meals
Civil disobedience
EG Greenpeace destroyed genetically modified crops to publicise
Plane Stupid disrupted flights
PG Method - Court
Requests a judicial review if it feels government or a state body has acted on the contrary to the rule of law
EG Plane Stupid asked a senior high court judge for a judiciary review on the building of a new railway
Liberty sued Swella Braverman for anti-protest laws
5
Factors of pressure groups
- Size
- Finance
- Inside status
- Public support
- Opposition
