Edexcel A-Level Government and Politics
BRITISH
POLITICS
REVISION
NOTES
Aled T. Bennett
,Democracy and Participation Revision Notes
Direct: Individuals express their opinions themselves – but such a system would not be
practical as a regular means of decision making
Advantages:
- Gives equal weight to all votes, whereas a representative system with varying sized
constituencies means all votes are not of equal value
- Encourages popular participation by expecting people to take their citizenship duty
seriously
- People take responsibility for their own decisions
- Develops a sense of community and encourages debate
- Greater levels of legitimacy if the turnout is high
Disadvantages:
- Can be impractical in large states
- Many people will not want/feel qualified to take part so political activists decide
- Open to manipulation by the media or speakers who persuade people to support
their viewpoint – eDemocracy will have a huge effect on the outcome
- Minority viewpoints are disregarded
- Can create voter apathy (AV)
- Undermines the sovereignty of Parliament
Representative: people elect representatives who make decisions on their behalf – if they
do not satisfy voters they can be held to account
Advantages:
- Only practical system in a large state where issues are complex and need a quick
response
- Politicians form parties giving constituents a choice in their representative – pressure
groups also form representing views and promoting debate and a pluralist
democracy
- Reduces the chance of tyranny of the majority
- Elections allow representatives to be held to account by the electorate
- Politicians tend to be better informed than the average citizen
Disadvantages:
- People hand responsibility to politicians and therefore could reduce participation
- Parties/PG’s are run by elites and not truly representing the people – or they cannot
simply represent every view of everyone
- Minorities may still be under-represented as politicians follow the majority view to
secure an election
- Politicians can avoid accountability as elections are every 5 years
- Politicians could be corrupt/incompetent and therefore betray constituents or place
party loyalty ahead of the constituency
,How is the UK suffering a democratic deficit?
Democratic Deficit: Decisions are taken by people whose appointment lacks adequate
democratic input and not subject to accountability
Under representation of minority views in HoC: The house is elected via FPTP and therefore
has a mismatch of votes to seats – this can leave minority viewpoints underrepresented
HoL lacks legitimacy: The HoL is wholly unelected and therefore people question why
members who have not been elected should be able to make decisions on their behalf
BUT: HoL reform introduced by Blair meant the chamber was more neutral and therefore
although legitimacy could still be questioned there was no dominant party in the house
Lack of Protection for Citizens Rights: The ECHR 1998 arguably provides inadequate
guarantees for citizens rights as govn can derogate from the act
BUT: the constitutional reform act 2005 has allowed for more judicial independence and
therefore rights have been protected better with more “liberal judges”
Media control by unaccountable, wealthy business owners: The Murdoch group owns The
Sun, The Times and Sunday times and therefore can persuade/impose political views of their
beliefs on readers
There is a widespread belief that the UK’s democratic system is suffering from a
participation crisis due to a lack of engagement: - could be explained due to voter apathy or
hapathy (2001)
Voter Turnout: Falling turnout is important as it means govn are elected on a reduced share
of the popular vote therefore questioning the strength of their mandate
- Average turnout from 1945-997 was 76% in 2001 it was 58%
- Turnout is even lower in local elections – average turnout in England 2016 was 33%
- This could be explained as people see these bodies to have less of an influence over
their everyday lives – Stoke on Trent election 2017 saw a 38% turnout
Party Membership: Only 1.3% of the electorate belongs to a party whereas in the 1980s it
was at almost 4%
- Tories have lost almost 300,000 members since 1990
- Labour have seen a rise in members from 115,000 to 515,000 under Corbyn
- Partisan dealignment – parties move to centre ground therefore less people
associate themselves to a party
Negative view of politics: Examples of dishonest behaviour by MPs such as the expenses
scandal, and that MP’s break promises paired with the view that voting does not change
anything have reduced levels of trust in politics and therefore reduced participation
, BUT:
Pressure Groups: People may now be more occupied with targeting a single issue and
therefore participating differently in ways such as PG’s – direct action through PG’s (see PG
booklet)
Social Media: The use of eDemocracy and social media has grown in recent years with the
smart phone – allows people to exchange in political views and participate in petitions
online
- A petition proposing the government to take control/reduce the price of petrol/diesel
had 138,000 signatures by 2012
As well as this it may just be circumstantial as the Scottish independence vote had a huge
84% turnout and 73% of UK citizens voted in the EU referendum
How can participation be increased or improved?
- An inactive citizenry can lead to an arbitrary and autocratic govn
Compulsory voting:
For:
- All people should be involved in the processes which affect their lives
- It would produce a Parliament more representative of society as a whole
- Politicians would have to run better campaigns and govns would have to frame
policies with the whole electorate in mind
- Greater legitimacy of the govn
Against:
- Compulsory voting may lead to voters ranking candidates
- It is undemocratic to force citizens to take part in something
- It would not really stop parties from targeting marginal seats and neglecting safe
seats
- Does not address the deeper reasons behind why people choose not to vote
- People may to turn to extremes – anti-establishment
Reduction in the voting age:
For:
- 16 year olds have rights such as being able to leave education therefore why can’t
they vote
- if they were given the right to vote they would show a higher interest in politics –
Scot ref saw a 75% U18 turnout
- U18 deserve/want a say in policies which affect them like tuition fees and taxation
- It would help decrease the voter apathy situation
BRITISH
POLITICS
REVISION
NOTES
Aled T. Bennett
,Democracy and Participation Revision Notes
Direct: Individuals express their opinions themselves – but such a system would not be
practical as a regular means of decision making
Advantages:
- Gives equal weight to all votes, whereas a representative system with varying sized
constituencies means all votes are not of equal value
- Encourages popular participation by expecting people to take their citizenship duty
seriously
- People take responsibility for their own decisions
- Develops a sense of community and encourages debate
- Greater levels of legitimacy if the turnout is high
Disadvantages:
- Can be impractical in large states
- Many people will not want/feel qualified to take part so political activists decide
- Open to manipulation by the media or speakers who persuade people to support
their viewpoint – eDemocracy will have a huge effect on the outcome
- Minority viewpoints are disregarded
- Can create voter apathy (AV)
- Undermines the sovereignty of Parliament
Representative: people elect representatives who make decisions on their behalf – if they
do not satisfy voters they can be held to account
Advantages:
- Only practical system in a large state where issues are complex and need a quick
response
- Politicians form parties giving constituents a choice in their representative – pressure
groups also form representing views and promoting debate and a pluralist
democracy
- Reduces the chance of tyranny of the majority
- Elections allow representatives to be held to account by the electorate
- Politicians tend to be better informed than the average citizen
Disadvantages:
- People hand responsibility to politicians and therefore could reduce participation
- Parties/PG’s are run by elites and not truly representing the people – or they cannot
simply represent every view of everyone
- Minorities may still be under-represented as politicians follow the majority view to
secure an election
- Politicians can avoid accountability as elections are every 5 years
- Politicians could be corrupt/incompetent and therefore betray constituents or place
party loyalty ahead of the constituency
,How is the UK suffering a democratic deficit?
Democratic Deficit: Decisions are taken by people whose appointment lacks adequate
democratic input and not subject to accountability
Under representation of minority views in HoC: The house is elected via FPTP and therefore
has a mismatch of votes to seats – this can leave minority viewpoints underrepresented
HoL lacks legitimacy: The HoL is wholly unelected and therefore people question why
members who have not been elected should be able to make decisions on their behalf
BUT: HoL reform introduced by Blair meant the chamber was more neutral and therefore
although legitimacy could still be questioned there was no dominant party in the house
Lack of Protection for Citizens Rights: The ECHR 1998 arguably provides inadequate
guarantees for citizens rights as govn can derogate from the act
BUT: the constitutional reform act 2005 has allowed for more judicial independence and
therefore rights have been protected better with more “liberal judges”
Media control by unaccountable, wealthy business owners: The Murdoch group owns The
Sun, The Times and Sunday times and therefore can persuade/impose political views of their
beliefs on readers
There is a widespread belief that the UK’s democratic system is suffering from a
participation crisis due to a lack of engagement: - could be explained due to voter apathy or
hapathy (2001)
Voter Turnout: Falling turnout is important as it means govn are elected on a reduced share
of the popular vote therefore questioning the strength of their mandate
- Average turnout from 1945-997 was 76% in 2001 it was 58%
- Turnout is even lower in local elections – average turnout in England 2016 was 33%
- This could be explained as people see these bodies to have less of an influence over
their everyday lives – Stoke on Trent election 2017 saw a 38% turnout
Party Membership: Only 1.3% of the electorate belongs to a party whereas in the 1980s it
was at almost 4%
- Tories have lost almost 300,000 members since 1990
- Labour have seen a rise in members from 115,000 to 515,000 under Corbyn
- Partisan dealignment – parties move to centre ground therefore less people
associate themselves to a party
Negative view of politics: Examples of dishonest behaviour by MPs such as the expenses
scandal, and that MP’s break promises paired with the view that voting does not change
anything have reduced levels of trust in politics and therefore reduced participation
, BUT:
Pressure Groups: People may now be more occupied with targeting a single issue and
therefore participating differently in ways such as PG’s – direct action through PG’s (see PG
booklet)
Social Media: The use of eDemocracy and social media has grown in recent years with the
smart phone – allows people to exchange in political views and participate in petitions
online
- A petition proposing the government to take control/reduce the price of petrol/diesel
had 138,000 signatures by 2012
As well as this it may just be circumstantial as the Scottish independence vote had a huge
84% turnout and 73% of UK citizens voted in the EU referendum
How can participation be increased or improved?
- An inactive citizenry can lead to an arbitrary and autocratic govn
Compulsory voting:
For:
- All people should be involved in the processes which affect their lives
- It would produce a Parliament more representative of society as a whole
- Politicians would have to run better campaigns and govns would have to frame
policies with the whole electorate in mind
- Greater legitimacy of the govn
Against:
- Compulsory voting may lead to voters ranking candidates
- It is undemocratic to force citizens to take part in something
- It would not really stop parties from targeting marginal seats and neglecting safe
seats
- Does not address the deeper reasons behind why people choose not to vote
- People may to turn to extremes – anti-establishment
Reduction in the voting age:
For:
- 16 year olds have rights such as being able to leave education therefore why can’t
they vote
- if they were given the right to vote they would show a higher interest in politics –
Scot ref saw a 75% U18 turnout
- U18 deserve/want a say in policies which affect them like tuition fees and taxation
- It would help decrease the voter apathy situation
