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Summary Democracy & Participation
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Component 1 : Part 1 UK politics - set of comprehensive notes full with case studies , statistics and facts for the AS & A-Level Politics course.
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GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS:TITLES
CASE STUDIES/EXAMPLES
DIRECT DEMOCRACY:
Voters in DIRECT DEMOCRACIES make their own political decisions and are DIRECTLY involved in the
process of political decision making.
In a direct democracy, decisions are reached by a majority voting decision:
MOST UK DECISIONS ARE NOT MADE BY DIRECT DEMOCRACY however there are some exceptions
eg. Referendums.
REFERENDUMS:
Citizens directly vote on issues and the government creates policy based on the response
The UK European union referendum – 2016
- 33 million uk citizens voted
- 51.89% voted leave
The Alternative Vote Referendum – 2011
- over 19 million citizens voted against the alternative voting system
ONLINE PETITIONS:
The UK parliament have set up a platform for citizens to make and sign online petitions.
If a petition gains over 100,000 signatures, the parliament may then debate the topic.
The topic must be sponsored by the ‘Backbench business committee’ so it is not entirely direct
democracy.
Donald Trump online petition- 2018:
- 1.6 million people signed a petition to stop Donald trump making a state visit to the UK
- MPs then debated this a changed it from a ‘state visit’ to a ‘working visit’
RALLIES & PROTESTS:
Groups of people concerned about the government or political actions may gather to demonstrate
their support or disapproval.
, Governments DO NOT have to respond to protests
Protests:
- In 2017, thousands of citizens gathered in London to protest against the governments
economic decisions
- In 2010, thousands of students marched to protest tuition fee rises
PROS & CONS OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY:
PROS CONS
Transparency – ensures a strong level of Can be manipulated- the way in which
openness between citizens and the government questions are phrased and the timing of them
can change results
- The wording of the EU referendum was
changed from ‘yes’&’no’ to ‘remain’&
leave.
- Yes/no questions may benefit the ‘yes’
side
Cooperation- people are more likely to engage Can be manipulated- the voter can be
if they believe their opinion holds significance influenced easily by influential figures,
campaigns and the media
Purest form- does not involve any Can be manipulated- people may vote with
interpretation their emotions rather than considering all
options
Wishes of people- it ensures the will of the Voters may not be experts- the public make
people is very clear important decisions and may be less
knowledgeable and able to make an informed
decision as a representative politician
Education- citizens have become more Impractical – it is too time consuming,
educated on key political issues expensive and may not be practical to make
frequent decisions
2016 EU referendum
The cabinet office predicted that it cost £14.2
million to run the referendum (inc. cost to
count votes, run polling stations)
All votes count equally Impractical- for a big country with millions of
- In representative democracies, some citizens, direct democracy is especially difficult
constituents are larger than others
- In bigger constituencies, each vote
counts for less
- In direct democracies, each vote counts
the same amount towards important
decisions
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY:
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