Essay plans
Evaluate the view that the UK is suffering from a participation crisis
A political participation crisis is where there is a lack of engagement with the political
system such as not voting in general elections.
Is suffering Isn’t suffering
Lower turnout at elections undermine the legitimacy of Turnout has been increasing in recent years
the results Whilst g.e. turnout is lower than previously it has
Average turnout at G.e. from 1945-1997 was over 75% but been steadily increasing. Since the 2001 election the
since then it has dropped in 2001 to the lowest since the turnout has been increasing at everyone g.e. since
end of the WW1 of 59.4%. 2001 reaching 68.8% in 2017.
Decreases the mandate of the party to enact their This means it is possible that this trend will continue
manifesto policies as political parties maintain their efforts to restore
participation rates to their former levels.
Turnout at “second order” elections is even lower e.g. 2012 There may be other reasons why people aren’t voting
Police and Crime Commissioner elections had a record in elections such as ‘hapathy’ where people are
lower turnout, with an average of just 15% - undermines content with the current gov.
notion of elected and accountable police officials.
Party membership as dropped as people have become less Rise of e-democracy
involved in formal politics Electorate has turned away from traditional methods
In 2015 only 1 % of the electorate were members of the of participation and now tend to focus on single
three main political parties compared to nearly 4% in 1983. issues
Partisan dealignment in recent decades, with far fewer Social media, e-petitions
voters strongly identifying with a particular party, loyally In 2016 over 4.1m people signed a petition for a 2 nd
supporting them from election to election – 2015 Audit of EU referendum
Political Engagement found only 30% of public “strong From 2011-15 over 150 e-petitions collected over
supporter” of political party. 10k, 37 over 100k, 31 debated in Commons
75% of them said they were certain to vote People are still involved in politics but in different
Suggesting a sharp drop in trust and engagement ways
it is easy to overestimate how many people are actively While formal political participation has declined, PG
engaged in non-electoral participation have become increasingly popular
questionable whether all the million members of RSPB are Whilst turnout has decreased PGs have grown
actively engaged with environmental issues. considerably with many memberships far larger than
Many members just pay membership and do little else, main political parties. In recent years there has been
primarily joining group for membership benefits a number of large-scale direct-action demonstrations
While PGs may have become more influential only a small % highlighting people who are interested in taking a
of voters are actively involved political stand. Numerous trade unions e.g. NUT or
BMA have staged strikes and marches over issues of
pay cuts and pensions reforms
Conclusion – no it is not as turnout is rising and the recent rise of e-democracy, and PG membership
Evaluate the effectiveness of the various proposals to improve democracy in the UK
Democracy is the idea that power is given to the people
Proposal Why the proposal isn’t good
Widening the franchise – lower voting age to 16 Children are far more likely to follow their parents
views and not use their own opinions as they lack
,Lowering the voting age to 16-year olds to encourage people maturity. In the UK 18-24-year olds is the lowest
from a younger age to become more involved in politics – many turnout group so extending the franchise wouldn’t
gov policies directly affect the young so they should have a say have massive effects on voter turnout
in such policies There has be a cut off at a certain age so why not
This will help to increase turnout as the electoral register 18 as this is when people legally become adults in
increases so democracy increases the UK
e.g. in Scotland when lowered to 16 turnout was 75% for that You can only marry age 16 with parental consent
age groups one of the highest Scottish referendum attracted unusually high
at age 16/17 you can legally marry, have sex, join the armed levels of participation for all age group – not a fair
forces so you should be able to vote test
Widening the franchise – compulsory voting Compulsory voting goes against democracy
This leads to higher turnout meaning higher participation rates Point of democracy is to give people free will and
giving the government better legitimacy and stronger mandate the choice not to vote. It won’t show higher levels
which increases democracy e.g. in Australia turnout levels are of democratic engagement as people who are
at 95% forced to vote may vote randomly so goes against
There is a social duty to vote – people should be engaged in the democracy.
processes that affect their lives Gives the gov a false sense of legitimacy as most
people were forced to vote so won’t increase their
mandate as people didn’t care
Electoral reform of FPTP is flawed so in order to improve We had an AV referendum in 2011 and it was
democracy PR should be used rejected so people do not want electoral reform.
Small parties do worse from FPTP as they are less likely to get PR systems would allow fringe/extremists parties
concentrated votes e.g. UKIP 2015 got 1 seat but 3.8million to infiltrate the political system
votes. This goes against democracy as some votes mean more Smaller parties are still listened to as gov takes on
depending on the constituencies because of safe seats e.g. their policies
Horsham 1880 – Labour voters are irrelevant. Thus, FPTP
decreases democracy and other electoral systems allows
smaller parties voices to be heard.
House of Lords reform They don’t need to be democratic to vote on the
The UK is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t will of the people – they have their expertise
have an elected upper chamber – 92 hereditary peers. which wouldn’t happen if they were elected.
Making it an elected chamber would mean that they would be Without Salisbury convent could lead to more
more accountable which increases legitimacy as they can act on gridlock if they have more power as seen in US.
the will of the people and scrutinise the gov much more as at Lords can become the official opposition when
the moment they are in effective because of the Salisbury there is a large majority in Commons as there is a
convention. weak opposition – increase democracy as it holds
the Commons to account e.g. seen with Blair.
Lords has already been reformed enough as more
hereditary have been removed
, Evaluate the view that direct democracy is superior to representative democracy.
Direct democracy – all individuals express their opinions themselves and not through
representatives acting on behalf of them.
Representative democracy – people elect representatives who take decisions on their behalf
Arguments For Arguments against
It is the purest form of democracy – everyone’s voices are It is not a practical form of democracy as in Athens
heard so the best way to give people to the people is for people in reality only a very small proportion of the
to have the power as seen in Athenian democracy – if people population could vote so that’s why it worked. It
are in power making their own decisions there is no one would never work with a large electorate as it is
stopping them from getting what they want. Representative impossible to hear everyone’s voices.
democracy means that people are attached to parties and will
usually vote how they are told by their party whips rather than
their own conscious.
Votes are of equal importance – as everyone votes counts the Even though there have been scandals these MPs
same but in a representative democracy only people in face repercussion for their actions e.g. MPs went
marginal votes really have a say as in safe seats if you vote for to prison for expenses scandals. Also, these MPs
the other party your vote wont count leading to large amounts are the minority not the majority and rule of law
of wasted votes. still happens. Representative democracy ensures
We cannot trust our representatives anymore due to recent that there is not tyranny of the majority and
scandals which have even seen MPs going to prison e.g. ensures minority are listened to e.g. Labour anti-
expenses scandal Semitism scandal where minority are listened to
Referendums – we have some aspects of direct democracy in Referendums potentially cause more harm than
our society which helps to increase political participation good as it can divide the country and MPs don’t
increasing democracy as it increases the govs mandate as they know who to support and not all ensure high
have asked the people increasing the legitimacy of their turnout e.g. AV referendum and Welsh parliament
decision and entrenches any major constitutional reform devolution was below 50% and giving decisions
who might not completely understand e.g. Brexit
and N.I. backstop
Evaluate the view that the UK is suffering from a participation crisis
A political participation crisis is where there is a lack of engagement with the political
system such as not voting in general elections.
Is suffering Isn’t suffering
Lower turnout at elections undermine the legitimacy of Turnout has been increasing in recent years
the results Whilst g.e. turnout is lower than previously it has
Average turnout at G.e. from 1945-1997 was over 75% but been steadily increasing. Since the 2001 election the
since then it has dropped in 2001 to the lowest since the turnout has been increasing at everyone g.e. since
end of the WW1 of 59.4%. 2001 reaching 68.8% in 2017.
Decreases the mandate of the party to enact their This means it is possible that this trend will continue
manifesto policies as political parties maintain their efforts to restore
participation rates to their former levels.
Turnout at “second order” elections is even lower e.g. 2012 There may be other reasons why people aren’t voting
Police and Crime Commissioner elections had a record in elections such as ‘hapathy’ where people are
lower turnout, with an average of just 15% - undermines content with the current gov.
notion of elected and accountable police officials.
Party membership as dropped as people have become less Rise of e-democracy
involved in formal politics Electorate has turned away from traditional methods
In 2015 only 1 % of the electorate were members of the of participation and now tend to focus on single
three main political parties compared to nearly 4% in 1983. issues
Partisan dealignment in recent decades, with far fewer Social media, e-petitions
voters strongly identifying with a particular party, loyally In 2016 over 4.1m people signed a petition for a 2 nd
supporting them from election to election – 2015 Audit of EU referendum
Political Engagement found only 30% of public “strong From 2011-15 over 150 e-petitions collected over
supporter” of political party. 10k, 37 over 100k, 31 debated in Commons
75% of them said they were certain to vote People are still involved in politics but in different
Suggesting a sharp drop in trust and engagement ways
it is easy to overestimate how many people are actively While formal political participation has declined, PG
engaged in non-electoral participation have become increasingly popular
questionable whether all the million members of RSPB are Whilst turnout has decreased PGs have grown
actively engaged with environmental issues. considerably with many memberships far larger than
Many members just pay membership and do little else, main political parties. In recent years there has been
primarily joining group for membership benefits a number of large-scale direct-action demonstrations
While PGs may have become more influential only a small % highlighting people who are interested in taking a
of voters are actively involved political stand. Numerous trade unions e.g. NUT or
BMA have staged strikes and marches over issues of
pay cuts and pensions reforms
Conclusion – no it is not as turnout is rising and the recent rise of e-democracy, and PG membership
Evaluate the effectiveness of the various proposals to improve democracy in the UK
Democracy is the idea that power is given to the people
Proposal Why the proposal isn’t good
Widening the franchise – lower voting age to 16 Children are far more likely to follow their parents
views and not use their own opinions as they lack
,Lowering the voting age to 16-year olds to encourage people maturity. In the UK 18-24-year olds is the lowest
from a younger age to become more involved in politics – many turnout group so extending the franchise wouldn’t
gov policies directly affect the young so they should have a say have massive effects on voter turnout
in such policies There has be a cut off at a certain age so why not
This will help to increase turnout as the electoral register 18 as this is when people legally become adults in
increases so democracy increases the UK
e.g. in Scotland when lowered to 16 turnout was 75% for that You can only marry age 16 with parental consent
age groups one of the highest Scottish referendum attracted unusually high
at age 16/17 you can legally marry, have sex, join the armed levels of participation for all age group – not a fair
forces so you should be able to vote test
Widening the franchise – compulsory voting Compulsory voting goes against democracy
This leads to higher turnout meaning higher participation rates Point of democracy is to give people free will and
giving the government better legitimacy and stronger mandate the choice not to vote. It won’t show higher levels
which increases democracy e.g. in Australia turnout levels are of democratic engagement as people who are
at 95% forced to vote may vote randomly so goes against
There is a social duty to vote – people should be engaged in the democracy.
processes that affect their lives Gives the gov a false sense of legitimacy as most
people were forced to vote so won’t increase their
mandate as people didn’t care
Electoral reform of FPTP is flawed so in order to improve We had an AV referendum in 2011 and it was
democracy PR should be used rejected so people do not want electoral reform.
Small parties do worse from FPTP as they are less likely to get PR systems would allow fringe/extremists parties
concentrated votes e.g. UKIP 2015 got 1 seat but 3.8million to infiltrate the political system
votes. This goes against democracy as some votes mean more Smaller parties are still listened to as gov takes on
depending on the constituencies because of safe seats e.g. their policies
Horsham 1880 – Labour voters are irrelevant. Thus, FPTP
decreases democracy and other electoral systems allows
smaller parties voices to be heard.
House of Lords reform They don’t need to be democratic to vote on the
The UK is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t will of the people – they have their expertise
have an elected upper chamber – 92 hereditary peers. which wouldn’t happen if they were elected.
Making it an elected chamber would mean that they would be Without Salisbury convent could lead to more
more accountable which increases legitimacy as they can act on gridlock if they have more power as seen in US.
the will of the people and scrutinise the gov much more as at Lords can become the official opposition when
the moment they are in effective because of the Salisbury there is a large majority in Commons as there is a
convention. weak opposition – increase democracy as it holds
the Commons to account e.g. seen with Blair.
Lords has already been reformed enough as more
hereditary have been removed
, Evaluate the view that direct democracy is superior to representative democracy.
Direct democracy – all individuals express their opinions themselves and not through
representatives acting on behalf of them.
Representative democracy – people elect representatives who take decisions on their behalf
Arguments For Arguments against
It is the purest form of democracy – everyone’s voices are It is not a practical form of democracy as in Athens
heard so the best way to give people to the people is for people in reality only a very small proportion of the
to have the power as seen in Athenian democracy – if people population could vote so that’s why it worked. It
are in power making their own decisions there is no one would never work with a large electorate as it is
stopping them from getting what they want. Representative impossible to hear everyone’s voices.
democracy means that people are attached to parties and will
usually vote how they are told by their party whips rather than
their own conscious.
Votes are of equal importance – as everyone votes counts the Even though there have been scandals these MPs
same but in a representative democracy only people in face repercussion for their actions e.g. MPs went
marginal votes really have a say as in safe seats if you vote for to prison for expenses scandals. Also, these MPs
the other party your vote wont count leading to large amounts are the minority not the majority and rule of law
of wasted votes. still happens. Representative democracy ensures
We cannot trust our representatives anymore due to recent that there is not tyranny of the majority and
scandals which have even seen MPs going to prison e.g. ensures minority are listened to e.g. Labour anti-
expenses scandal Semitism scandal where minority are listened to
Referendums – we have some aspects of direct democracy in Referendums potentially cause more harm than
our society which helps to increase political participation good as it can divide the country and MPs don’t
increasing democracy as it increases the govs mandate as they know who to support and not all ensure high
have asked the people increasing the legitimacy of their turnout e.g. AV referendum and Welsh parliament
decision and entrenches any major constitutional reform devolution was below 50% and giving decisions
who might not completely understand e.g. Brexit
and N.I. backstop
