politics essay plans QUESTIONS WITH
CERTIFIED ANSWERS
is direct democracy superior to representative democracy -✔✔✔
direct democracy is the only pure form of democracy-first agree point -✔✔✔This is because it ensures
that people only have to obey laws that they make themselves. Popular participation/sovereignty in
government is the very key of freedom: it is how the people determine their collective destiny, their
'general will'.
majority have a say/are represented
e.g. Scottish independence referendum-84% turnout
UK membership of the EU-72%
only 23% of people happy with MPs
direct democracy can give too much influence to extremists-first counterpoint -✔✔✔allows people to
be swayed emotionally
political activists with extremist ideas=given a voice in society
e.g. e petitions reflective of extremist ideas ca reach 100K and be debated in the HoC
presence of press/media can cause such views to gain further popularity e/g/ when the tabloid treats
referendum campaigns
Switzerland banning minarets
r.d=superior as moderate policies in teh interest of everyone are represented by elected politicians who
are rational rather than emotive/extreme
direct democracy creates better informed/knowledgeable citizens who are more likely to respect
decisions they've made themselves. -2nd agree point -✔✔✔-educational benefits. Direct and regular
popular participation in government encourages people to take more interest in politics and to better
understand their own society - both how it works and how it should work.
,also when a decision is in the hands of the public they are mor likely to respect the outcome e.g. the
Brexit referendum vs many decisions made by the commons which the public do not like
public will respect the decisions they've made because they are based on self interest/emotion/tyranny
of the majority-second counterpoint -✔✔✔representatives=well educated judgments using their
political experience/knowledge/expertise-based on the interests of everyone/the manifesto/deeper
understanding of the topic
balance conflicting views to protect rights of everyone, esp ethnic minorities-avoid tyranny o fthe
majority whilst d.d. lwads to the tyranny of the majority
direct democracy is needed when the gov=unable to resolve issues-3rd agree -✔✔✔
referendums/petitions are needed when the government cant resolve an issue without conflict
hence why Britain, which has always been a representative democracy. has introduced elements of
direct democracy
13 major referendums since 1973
Brexit 2016 referendums
direct democracy was intended to reinspire enthusiasm, not because the gov were unable to solve
problems -✔✔✔gov has introduced elements of dd to increase political engagement in voters, not
because they cant solve issues without a public who in general, are ignorant towards political issues and
do not have enough understanding/knowledge to help the government act rationally.
failed to increase engagement-many of the referendums show a participation crisis e.g. welsh
devolution referendum 2011=35% turnout
AV referendum=42%
instead of resolving issues it creates more conflict
eu referendum=conflict between wishes of public/government + destabilising impact on political
process
Is the UK suffering from a participation crisis? -✔✔✔
,Voter participation is slowly on the rise in recent elections/referendums-1st counterpoint -✔✔✔Since
2001, there has been a slow rise in the voter turnout, back up to 69% in 2017 from the low of 59% in
2001 (although it fell back in 2019 to 67%) , suggesting participation is on the rise.
There has also been a widening of participation opportunities since 1997 with the increased use of
referendums across the UK.For example, in the Northern Ireland 1998 referendum on the Good Friday
Agreement the turnout was 81% which was topped by a turnout of 85% for the Scottish Independence
Referendum of 2014.
There has been a long-term decline in voter turnout in the UK in general elections, with low turnout also
a persistent issue in other types of election and many referendums-agree point-1st agree point -✔✔✔
The 2001 general election recorded a turnout of 59%, the lowest figure since 1918 while the recovery to
67% in 2019 is still well below pre-1992 levels. There is also a consistent pattern in local elections of
much lower turnout than for general elections, possibly because people perceive local councils to have
limited power.
referendums low turnout
welsh devolution 50%
greater London authority 33%
There has been a long-term decline in party membership since the 1950s in the UK, in particular for the
two major parties-2nd agree point -✔✔✔It is increasingly clear that mass membership has seriously
declined, as have strong party loyalties. » The Labour party was traditionally seen as the party of the
working class and the Conservatives the party of the middle class. Some argue that the decline reflects
the fact that the political parties remain stuck in the past and no longer reflect the modern UK, where
age, ethnicity, education and income divides, along with whether you are a renter or home owner, are
more important than out-of-date class structures.
conservatives 1953-2,806,000
2019-180K
8 There has been a recent revival in party membership and the quality of engagement in political parties
is far higher than historically-2nd counterpoint -✔✔✔However, since 2013, there has been a
resurgence in party membership. » This is true particularly within the smaller parties such as the Scottish
National Party (SNP) and the Green Party as people turned to them and away from the Labour and
Conservative parties. The Labour party also saw its membership numbers increase rapidly after 2015,
, when people joined as personal support for Jeremy Corbyn, with the desire for a new style of Labour
politics and, for those who felt left behind, to back a more radical political approach
2013 SNP-25K
2019 SNP-125K
2013 Greens-14K
2019 Greens-49K
There has been a decline in the membership and power of the largest and most influential organisation
in group politics; the trade union movement.-3rd agree -✔✔✔trade unions, reached their peak in 1979
with around 13.2 million members. By 2016, trade union membership had dropped to an all-time low of
6.23 million,
his has largely come about due to the decline in manual jobs in large, traditional industries like coal
mining and ship building. With this decline in membership, many of the organisational skills and
communication and social networks that connected working people to politics are being lost.
There has been an explosion in single issue groups, which now have mass membership and
engagement.-3rd counterpoint -✔✔✔explosion in the number of charities and campaigning
organisations, particularly around environmental issues since the 1960s. This growth has come about as
people feel that groups built around single issues are more effective than parties at representing their
interests and ensuring that policies are shaped to meet their views. In 2013, the Passionate
Collaboration study found that the 139 environmental groups they analysed had a total membership of
4.5 million, which means nearly one in ten adults in the UK are members of such groups.
Will reforms enhance democracy in UK? -✔✔✔
More direct involvement of the public in politics would benefit representative democracy by creating
higher levels of engagement and participation, increasing legitimacy while also making politicians more
accountable.-agree point 1 -✔✔✔Recent years have witnessed a steady trend, evident in the UK and
elsewhere, towards the wider use of direct involvement. This has occurred because representative
democracies have been seen to suffer from increased political apathy and growing popular
disillusionment with politics. The great advantage is that it strengthens popular participation in
government, by placing power directly into the hands of the people
