Paper 1 Topics
Funding for Parties
Democracy Electoral Systems 1979 G.E.
Labour Party
Group Politics Referendums 1997 G.E.
Conservatives
Rights 2010 G.E.
Lib Dems
Pressure Groups
Minor Parties
Factors Affecting Party Success
, Direct Democracy
Representative Democracy Advantages
Advantages - Everyone in society participates
- Professional politicians make complex decisions - People can directly make their decisions in their interests
- Minority views are considered and upheld - All citizens’ voices are equal
- Elected politicians are held accountable by the people - It is the purest form of democracy
- The most practical form of democracy Disadvantages
Disadvantages - Impractical to achieve securely as it requires all citizens to be involved in
- Citizens are disengaged from politics decision-making daily
- Tightly controlled parties result in politicians lacking independence - Citizens become apathetic if they are asked to participate too often
- Politicians are skilled at swerving accountability and passing the buck - People will vote in their own interest, not society’s
- Politicians are open to corruption and self-interest - No minority voices can be heard, resulting in the tyranny of the majority
History of Democracy
ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
- The Assembly- formed of 30,000 people, only 3,000 regularly
attended, attendance was paid in order to encourage citizens who
Democracy lived far away or couldn’t afford the time to attend
- Checks and Balances- processes to ensure checks and balances
to potential abuses of power, it was then difficult for smaller groups
to dominate, corruption was reduced as no one ever knew who
would be selected to serve next
- How it worked- the Assembly met 2-3 times a month, could
accommodate around 6,000 citizens. The boulé, formed of 500
citizens, decided topics of discussion, they were chosen and each
served for a year. Any citizens could speak to the assembly and
vote on decisions. The majority won and the decision was final.
Presidents were also elected by lot, organised the proceedings
and assessed the voting. The Assembly could also ostracise
(banish) any citizen who had become too powerful and dangerous
Democracy Quotes
“Representative democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people”-
Abraham Lincoln
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average
voter”-Winston Churchill
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have
been tried”-Winston Churchill
“People would be swayed emotionally, rather than thinking rationally”- Plato
“Politicians would use power to be selfish”- Aristotle
, Pressure Groups
SECTIONAL/INTEREST GROUPS
- Membership is often restricted to particular sections of society; teachers, lawyers- aiming to
look at individual interests
OUTSIDER GROUPS Corporations
- Not closely associated with government and are largely excluded from political consultation - Large companies seek to lobby the government to
and contact, concentrate on mobilising public opinion to put pressure on the government encourage them to legislate (or not legislate) in
INSIDER GROUPS certain area
- Have special relationship with government, their aims are usually compatible with government -For example, Uber took heavy lobbying to convince the public
PROMOTIONAL/CAUSE GROUPS and authorities that Transport for London had made the wrong
- Membership tends to be open-seeking to gain mass support. Cause groups tend to have decision
altruistic policies, they benefit wider society
Think Tanks
- Think Tanks refer to privately funded, non-profit Lobbyists
organisations that conduct research with a view - Lobbyists are companies who get paid to gain access
Group Politics to the government for their client. Lobbying companies
to changing political ideas. ARGUABLY, good
think tanks are as rigorous as academic research often employ ex-politicians who know who to access
and as accessible as journalism the decision-makers. The ethics of lobbying is
-Well known Think Tanks: sometimes questioned, as companies pay to influence
● The Centre for Policy Studies government decisions
● The Adam Smith Institute
● The Centre for Social Justice
Access Points
Access Points refer to the places pressure groups try
to exert influence
● Government
● Parliament
● Political Parties
● Courts
● Devolved Assemblies and Local Councils
● The Media and Public Opinion
● The EU
, Human Rights Act (1998)
Civil Liberties - Incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights
- Freedom of Speech (ECHR) 1950 into UK law
- Freedom of Religion - Citizens can now challenge laws in UK courts rather than having
- Freedom of Association to go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
- The right to a Fair Trial - UK courts can issue a ‘declaration of incompatibility’, which can
-These freedoms are enshrined in a Bill of Rights put pressure on the government to back down
-Civil Liberties are a part of law of the land and can be changed by - The ECHR is nothing to do with the EU, and Brexit will have no
governments effect on the Human Rights Act (HRA) and the ECHR
How are rights protected in the UK? Freedom of Information Act (2000)
JUDICIAL REVIEW - It was introduced to create a more open system of
- Judicial review is a review of ministers and government
officials’ decisions to ensure they’re lawful - It gives citizens the ‘right to know’ information
- Ministerial decisions and actions can be declared Rights regarding how and who made decisions
unlawful when they’re ultra vires, when the - It allows the public to access files from any
minister is acting beyond their powers government body. Any person can request information
- Anyone can apply for Judicial Review for one of and has the right to have that information given to
three reasons; authority has been exceeded, them
procedural impropriety or acting in an ‘irrational’ or - However, it has some major exceptions to it,
‘unreasonable’ way particularly if it affects national security
COMMON LAW
- Common Law refers to rules that have been
The Equality Act (2010)
established through customs
- This combined earlier legislation making it
- Judges have decided that some rules are so firmly
illegal to discriminate in 9 areas:
rooted in ‘commonly held’ traditions that they have
- Religion
the force of the law. It is therefore left for judges to
- Gender reassignment
interpret what they are
- Age
- Statute Law takes precedence over common law
- Disability
- Common-law marriage, the right to hunt
- Marriage or Civil Partnership
with foxes and the right to roam began
- Pregnancy and Maternity
as common law but were subsequently
- Belief
superseded by statute law
- Race
- Sex and Sexual Orientation
