Democracy & Participation

Government of the people:

• political participation - voting, party membership, pressure groups, open political views
• participatory democracy - opportunity for everyone to participate (their choice)

Government by the people:

• direct democracy - people themselves make important decisionsgovernment sensitive to public opinion
  • e.g. referendums

Government for the people:

• governing in the interests of all sections of society
• representative democracy - MPs, ministers, etc accountable to the people

Establishes & protects freedom

• e.g. 'Arab Spring' (2011-12) Egypt, Libya, Syria, etc - try to adopt democractic system

Protects minorities

• pluralist democracy (not popular democracy) - everyone given access to political system
• guarantees free voice & no discrimination

Controls government power

• government held accountable (re-election, elected representatives) - prevent abuse of power

Encourages popular participation

• prevent tyranny & autocratic government

Disperses power

Citizenship = members of political community with rights & obligations within society

Rights:

• live in state
• vote in free elections
• equal treatment under the law
• given fair criminal trial
• civil liberties
  • freedom of expression, association, movement, religion, thought

Duties:

• obey the the laws
• accept legitimacy of government
• pay taxes
• join military (if compulsory draft)

Political Participation = opportunities for & tendencies of the people to be involved in political process

• voting in election / referendums
• signing physical / e-petitions
• joining / being active in political party
• joining / being active in pressure group

Active Citizenship

• developed by Labour (1990s)
• duty of all citizens to be politically active
  • e.g. membership of political party / pressure group / Neighbourhood Watch, etc

Big Society

• developed by David Cameron
• functions of state should be replaced by local activism
  • e.g. 'free schools', citizens' action groups, etc

Turnout: (% of electorate in general elections)

• 1992 = 77.7%
• 2001 = 59.4%
• 2010 = 65.2%

Party Membership: (% of total electorate)

• 1980 = 4.21%
  
• 2010 = 0.8%

Partisan Dealignment:

• people don't identify closely with single political party
• fewer people taking interest in party politics

Pressure Group Membership:

• UNISON = 1.3 million members

• Compulsory Voting
  • e.g. Australia
  • 'refusal to vote' option - no ingringement on civil liberties
• Lower Voting Age (18-16)
  • e.g. Scotland - EU referendum
• Easier Voting
  • online / text voting
  • extended voting period
• Citizenship Lessons
  • recently introduced
• Electoral Reform
  • e.g. regional list system (used in European elections)
• Increased use of Referdums
• More Elected Mayors
• 'Big Society' plans
• Increased use of e-democracy
  • e-petitions
  • forums

Features of Referendums:

• result not binding on government
• Parliament decide when a referendum's held & the question
• held for significant constitutional changes

Advantages of Referendums:

• most direct form of democracy - people accept decision
• prevent unpopular decisions made by government
• solve disputes within Parliament
• entrenches constitutional changes

Disadvantages of Referendums:

• require specialist knowledge - people don't understand complexity of issue
• people use referndum to show anger at government - decision for wrong reason
• tyranny of the majority

Stages of Representation:

Burkean Representation:

• Whig MP & Edmund Burke
• MP should use own judgement - make decisions in best interets of constituents
  • even if it goes against their immediate wishes - shouldn't just obey their wishes

Parliamentary Representation:

• representatives should balance between own judgement, policies of their party & interests of constituents
  • 'free votes' - use own judgement / consult constituents

Party Delegation:

• MPs toe party line (MPs = delegates of their party)
• voters base decision on party's manifesto (MP = moral duty to follow these policies)

Parliament = source of all political authority

• even PM has can only act with parliamentary support

UK Government drawn from Parliament

• members of government directly accountable to Parliament
  • submits all propsals for parliamentary approval & ministers report progress to Parliament

Citizens represented by MPs

• people views taken into account by parliament - interests of every constituency represented

Parliament guards Government's electoral mandate

• Parliament can veto government action if it's outside their mandate
• supervise coalition politics - mandate compromised

Parliament represents National interest

Advantages of Representative Democracy:

• elected representatives use superior knowledge & judgement - consider issues more deeply
• representatives mediate conflicting demands
  • e.g issue of immigration
• representatives guard against tyranny of the majority
• representatives consider wishes of all sections of society - convert into feasible political system

Advantages of Direct Democracy:

• purest form of democracy
• avoids decisions being made for reresentative's own personal benefit
• people becoming more informed - make own judgements
• disillusionment with representative institutions
  • people trust their own decisions over those made on their behalf
• decisions made by people carry more authority

Features of Liberal Democracy:

• Accountability
• Free & fair elections
• Transfer of power = peaceful
• Legitimacy of winning party
• Freedom of information
• Rights & liberties of citizens protected
• Limited government
• Tolerance

Reasons for Defecit:

Decreasing political participation

Undemocractic institutions within government

• e.g. House of Lords

Increased centralisation of power

• insufficiently accounable in Parliament