Edexcel- AS Politics- Democracy in the UK

Democracy in the UK

Edexcel- AS Government and Politics- Unit 1-Democracy

Representative Democracy

Advantages people can elect a representative who acts on their behalf representatives often have more knowledge and expertise they can act more rationally than the public who may act emotionally Representatives can educate the public on issues They are accountable, where as the public is not they can create a political programme range of political views and beliefs and sections of society can be represented e.g- MP's in the UK, party politics

Disadvantageselectoral mandate is flawed as people can only vote to accept or rejectrepresentatives may ignore the demands of the people in order for their own political gainif the party is dominant they may follow the party rather than the views of their peopleit is hard to make representatives accountable between electionse.g-low turnout at elections, 2010 British Coalition

Direct Democracy

Advantages direct is the purest form of democracy people can participate in politics and is good for citizenship decisions are strengthened if they can get the direct consent of the public. Referendums can add legitimacy important constitutional changes can be entrenched through referendum if there is conflict over a decision then the people can give a consensus

Disadvantages people may vote emotionally in a referendum (e'g-capital punishment) or the issue may be too complex (e.g-EU Ref-2016) voters fatigue if there are too many referendums minority views are overlooked by the will of the majority there may not be acceptance of a result if it is close (e.g- 1997 Welsh ref on devolution, Eu ref 2016) low turnout of a ref may mean the result lacks legitimacy (e.g-1998 London Mayor 34%) people are not accountable loss of respect for representatives if people are used to making their own decisions

Direct v Representative Democracy

Direct is the purest form of democracy Direct is more about constitutional changes and reforms, where as representative is more about the day to day running Representatives are accountable where as the people are not Representative is more pluralist and a majority of views are represented but with direct only the will of the majority wins. Referendums are more legitimate than decisions by representatives

Use of referendums in the UK

to resolve a disagreement by the government over an issue- EU referendum 2016 and AV electoral system 2011 to entrench a constitutional change-1997 devolved government in Scotland constitutional change-1998 London Mayor ref