What is legitimacy?
Whether or not the government is elected and governs with the consent of the people with the rule of law
What is representative democracy?
A system in which the voter elects representatives to make decisions on their behalf. In an election parties will put forward policies and the voter makes a choice.
What is direct democracy?
The system where the voters decide on separate individual issues themselves such as in a referendum
What is an example of a modern and historical direct democracy?
Modern - Switzerland
Historical - Ancient Greece
What is parliamentary sovereignty?
The power of parliament to make or unmake any law that it wants, it has this sovereignty because it has been elected by the people.
What is popular sovereignty?
The power of the people to elect governments and to vote them out if they are unsatisfied
What is democratic participation?
Opportunities for, and tendencies of, the people to become involved in the political process.
What are the pros of direct democracy?
- All votes have equal weight, representative democracy may make some votes less and more important based on constituency size
- It encourages popular participation
- Take responsibility for their own decisions, no need to entrust someone else to take action for you
- Encourages genuine debate
What are the cons of direct democracy?
- Often impractical in a large modern state
- Many voters lack specific knowledge or time to research every single new proposal sufficiently
- Public are open to manipulation by clever and well spoken people that wish to trick people into voting with them
- Minority viewpoints are disregarded due to no mediation by parliament
What is the role of direct democracy in the UK?
- Not a tradition in the UK (it is a representative democracy) though there has been some use in more recent years
- 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum (rejected 55% to 45%)
- 2016 EU Withdrawal Referendum (leave 52% to remain 48%)
What are the pros of representative democracy?
- It entrusts those whose livings are to make decisions for the people to make decisions for the people
- We have elections where political parties put forward manifestos so people know what they are voting for, parties very rarely break their manifesto
- Politicians have direct knowledge on political issues
What are cons of representative democracy?
- Puts a large amount of power in the hands of a small amount of trusted individuals who may be acting in their own self interest
- Sometimes politicians will make decisions on what is politically popular as opposed to tackling the big issues
- Sometimes politicians take decisions on big issues without consulting the people or having their opinion made well known before their election
How is power (sovereignty) distributed in the UK?
The queen is the sovereign and hands power to the PM and gov’t through the royal prerogative, they can make policy but it must be approved by parliament. Parliament has parliamentary sovereignty so is therefore the supreme law making body.
What is the fixed term parliament act of 2010?
- Election times are fixed to May every 5 years
- If a snap election is to be called then 2/3s of MPs must vote on this in the House of Commons
- There were snap elections in 2017 and 19, both times it was the conservatives trying to get a majority
What is voter turnout?
The number of people that use their vote in elections (%)
How does/has voter turnout varied?
- Voter turnout has declined as a trend over the last 50 years. In 1992 the turnout was well over 70%, in 2005 it was just 59%.
- At local elections turnout is very low and is often in the 30s and 40s, this is because they are not seen as very important.
- When elections are considered foregone conclusions less people vote
- The Scottish Independence Referendum had an over 80% voter turnout
What are the opportunities for democratic participation in the UK?
- Voting in local, regional and national elections
- Referendums
- We cannot vote for the leader of a party though, only a small minority can vote on the leader (members of the party)
Positives of the UK democratic system:
- Devolved governments
- Independent judiciaries (judged not political or party aligned)
- Freedom of press and free media
- Free and fair elections
- Wide range of political parties and pressure groups
What are devolved governments?
Devolved governments are governments where the parliament at Westminster allows the regions of the UK (Scotland, NI, Wales and London) to have their own elected bodies to make local decisions
Negatives of the UK democratic system:
- Under representation of minority viewpoints under the first-past-the post system (e.g. greens get a lot of votes nationally but they struggle to win more than one constituency)
- House of Lords is unelected (lacks democratic legitimacy)
- Lack of protection of citizen’s rights
- Sections of the media are controlled by powerful big business interests (e.g. the influence of Rupert Murdoch)
What are the arguments for referendums?
- Electorate should be consulted on important issues
- Unambiguous popular verdict on a contentious issue
- Prevents government becoming remote and unaccountable, Lord Halisham referred to the UK as an “elective dictatorship”
- Regulates by electoral commission so unlikely to be unfair/skewed
- Legitimise important constitutional issues such as devolution
- Very real form of direct democracy
What are the arguments against referendums?
- Challenge parliamentary sovereignty
- Ordinary people may lack political expertise to vote on complex issues (hence why we have representation)
- Low turnout has been the norm since the 70s (London mayor referendum had a turnout of 34%), this distorts results
- Could lead to voter fatigue and political apathy
- Funding differences on either side can be very unfair
- ‘Tyranny of majority’, no compromise with referendums
