Politics quiz: Liberal Demo. (Political participation)

Question 1

define political participation:

Answer 1

• Political institutions in a liberal democracy are founded on mass participation.

Question 2

what are the 2 forms political participation can take?

Answer 2

1. Direct democracy
2. Indirect democracy

Question 3

define what direct democracy is

Answer 3

• citizens are involved in the public decision making of gouv. (think of JJ Rousseau and Pop. sov.)

Question 4

what are the 2 problems with direct democracy?

Answer 4

1. The larger community, the more dysfunctional and inefficient the system becomes.
2. All citizens are expected to participate but not all are interested or knowledgeable about the complex issues of governance.
   – In low knowledge environments, people are more likely to be swayed by emotion rather than logic.

Question 5

define what Indirect democracy (representative democracy) is

Answer 5

• When individuals select representatives to act on their behalf in the public policy decision making process.

Question 6

To a certain extent, indirect demo. addresses the issues/problems of direct demo. What are they? (2)

Answer 6

1. Size of community: because a subset of the population is involved in day-to-day governance - it doesn’t matter how large the community is.
   – Ex: 385 mil canadians represented by 343 members of parliament.
2. Quality of decision making:
   –Those inds. who present themselves as candidates for elected office are interested in fulfilling that role and generally are better prepared to assume it.
   – Parties and voters serve as filters to weed out unsuitable candidates

Question 7

what are the 4 problems with indirect democracy?

Answer 7

1. Nature of representation
2. Trustee
3. Party member
4. Feelings of distance from gout.

Question 8

define the nature of representation problem:

Answer 8

• varying understandings about the meaning of representation.
  ex: Delegate: the expectation that the elected office will faithfully articulate the majority view of the voters.

Question 9

define the Trustee problem:

Answer 9

• the elected office official is “trusted” to make decisions on behalf of their voters. They may consult with voters but are not bound to the majority position of their voters.

Question 10

define the Party member problem:

Answer 10

• the elected official is the stand in for the political party and is expected to follow the party’s position. Thus, people are voting for the party.

Question 11

define the Feelings of distance from the gout. problem:

Answer 11

• inds. may feel very disconnected from gout. w/o means of effectively influencing it.
• both criticisms can lead to voter disengagement, political apathy and anger towards the political system.

Question 12

What is one way to address the criticisms of indirect democracies?

Answer 12

to introduce elements of direct demo into an indirect system. ex: referendums

Question 13

Using referendums to address the criticisms of indirect democracies can work. What are the 3 types of referendum?

Answer 13

1. Referendum: gout. poses a yes or no question to the public on a specific policy issue.
2. Binding referendum: Gout. agrees to accept the outcome whether or not it’s the preferred outcome.
3. Citizen initiated referendum: Citizens choose which policy area a referendum will be held on.