An in-depth, high quality, summary of the UK Politics section of unit 1 of AQA A Level Politics. Included are: detailed notes on chapters 6-10 of the textbook, key arguments for essay questions, key definitions, case studies and real life examples as well as key concepts in bold.
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,Democracy and Participation..............................................3
Democracy.................................................................................................................................. 3
Political Participation................................................................................................................... 4
Elections and Referendums................................................4
First Past The Post (FPTP)............................................................................................................ 4
Proportion Representation (PR)................................................................................................... 5
Additional Member System (AMS)................................................................................................ 5
Single Transferrable Vote (STV)................................................................................................... 5
PR Party List................................................................................................................................ 6
Alternative Vote (AV)................................................................................................................... 6
Why Did The Conservatives Win In 2019?....................................................................................7
Political Parties.................................................................8
Functions Of Political Parties........................................................................................................ 8
Internal Democracy Of The Parties.............................................................................................. 8
The Conservatives....................................................................................................................... 9
The Labour Party......................................................................................................................... 9
The Liberal Democrats............................................................................................................... 10
Minor Parties.............................................................................................................................. 10
Party Funding............................................................................................................................ 11
Pressure Groups..............................................................11
Types Of Pressure Group........................................................................................................... 11
Functions Of Pressure Groups.................................................................................................... 11
Methods Of Pressure Groups...................................................................................................... 12
Pressure Group Case Studies..................................................................................................... 12
How Do Pressure Groups Effect Democracy?.............................................................................13
What Makes Pressure Groups Successful?.................................................................................13
The European Union.........................................................13
How Did The EU Develop?......................................................................................................... 13
Aims Of The EU.......................................................................................................................... 13
The EU And Its Institutions......................................................................................................... 14
Effect Of The EU On Britain........................................................................................................ 15
, Democracy and Participation
DEMOCRACY
• Democracy - A political system where the people are able to make or influence deci-
sions and the government is accountable to the people
• Liberal Democracy - A system of government where rights and freedoms are recog-
nised and protected
• Pluralist Democracy - A scotty where power and influence is dispersed among a large
number of groups and authorities
• Devolution - When powers of a central government are distributed to localised au-
thorities
• Partisan Dealignment - When voters become less connected to their political party
• Causes of partisan dealignment include: Greater political awareness, socialisation,
the mass media, declines in deference
Direct Democracy
• When the people are directly involved in political decision making
• Used heavily in Switzerland, the most common form of DD are referenda
• In the UK, results of a referendum aren’t legally binding
• Most recent referendum = Brexit. 72% turnout, 52% leave
• Positives: Purest form of democracy, spreads power to the whole pop, could in-
crease participation, means the electorate get more politically educated naturally
• Negatives: Many decisions are too complex for people to understand, if it is used
too often voter apathy may appear, creates tyranny of the majority
Representative Democracy
• When people elect an individual to act on their half as a political representative
• Normal system in most modern democracies, used in America with House members
and Senators being regionally based
• In the UK, we elect a local MP to represent us in government
• Elections are always free and fair, elected representatives can be made accountable
to the electorate (e.g through Recall of MPs Act)
• Positives: Elected representatives have more political expertise than the people,
representatives are accountable so they act responsibly, means normal people don’t
have to constantly deal with politics
• Negatives: Representatives may not represent the demands of the wider popula-
tion, parties can prevent representatives from acting independently, representative
democracy can be controlled by elites
• Electoral system means that parties/groups are not truly represented
• In 2015 the Tories got 37% of the vote and 51% of seats whilst UKIP got 12.6% of the
vote and just 1 seat
• In 2019, Lib Dems got 11.5% of the votes but 2% of seats
• Genders aren’t fairly represented either. 35% of MPs are female but 51% of popula-
tion is
• Neither are minorities. 18% of UK is a minority, only 10% of Parlt. is
Development of Suffrage
• Suffrage - The right to vote
• Enfranchisement - When you are legally given the right to vote
• Great Reform Act 1832 - Allowed 1 in 5 adult males to vote, 5.6% of the popula-
tion. Abolished ‘rotten boroughs’ that had virtually no voters but still had 2 MPs
• Second Reform Act 1867 - Allowed many woking class men to vote. 1/3 of the
male population
• Third Reform Act 1884 - Established a uniform franchise where all males who met
a property requirement could vote. 60% of male population
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