Citizenship Theme D Citizen Participation, Democracy and Media

Opportunities to participation =

• Politics - by voting/campaigning on local, national, global issues
• The local community- volunteering for local charities
• The wider community- involvment in charities to improve health or campaign for justice and equality
• Serving in society- e.g. magistrate

Barriers to participation=

• Busy lives-  or lack of time e.g from working or childcare etc.
• lack of interest- apathy, about politics or community issues, no point.
• lack of awareness- and education on how to exercise power and influence
• worry about process- or the impact of thier position in society on others

DIRECT ACTION: action to bring about change, through e.g. demonstrations or strikes.

INDIRECT ACTION: making a change through persuasion rather than directly.

 Peoples reasons for getting involved  in communities, society and politics: 

•  Concern about making a difference
• Influence from personal experience
• influence from cultural background or religion
• ambition
• desire to improve community

VOTING

improving voter engagement:

• Making voting compulsory
• increase face to face meetings with candidates and voters
• improve citi education
• change FPTP system so every vote counts
• allow voting on weekend
• place polling stations at work or stores so more convenient

Digital democracy: 

• Voting at home or on mobile makes it more easy and accesible than going to a polling station.
• However very tight security is needed to prevent fraud or hacking

Using Social media to improve political participation:

• Messages can be targeted to particular voters
• Getting page likes and shares helps spread the party's message
• social media allows parties to pick up on issues that are important to voter, and helps them to direct their campaigns.
• Voter turnout rose in the last general election, some beleive that social media helped to engage younger voters, whose participation was higher than before.
• Politicians must be careful how they use social media e.g. in 2014 labour MP resigned shadow cabinet after tweeting a pic of a house covered in England flags as some people felt she was mocking working class voters.
• There are concerns about sites putting out fake news that confuses voters, also puts off from politics.

DEMOCRACY

Features of a democratic society = 

• Free and fair elections
• governmental checks and balances
• citizen inclusion
• citizen support for gov
• freedom of expression

democratic e.g. Norway= Most adult citizens can vote and stand for election, participation is high and seen as civic duty, politicians are seen as normal not out of touch or elite, wide range of parties, elections fair free and open, anyone can join and form parties or pressure groups, media free to express any view they want.

non-democratic e.g. North Korea= No genuine elections, leader is dictator who decides everything, no rule of law, Kim Jong Un took over from his father and his before that- he will be Supreme Leader for life, military is central to NK's politics, no oppurtunites to legally take part in political activity not approved by state, critisism of gov likely to = prison camp, no free media.

Groups in democratic society=

Public institutions and services=…