Democracy and Participation
Direct Democracy
● Referendums
- Vote on a single issue, direct democracy*
- Since 1973 there have been 11 major referendums, mostly on devolution
- 1997 - Welsh Assembly (Yes) / 2014 - Independence (No) / 2016 - Brexit (Leave)
- Advantages
● Increases participation
● Purest form of democracy
● Provides legitimacy to major constitutional changes
- Disadvantages
● Voters may be uneducated
● Parliamentary authority is weakened
● Message of the referendum can be manipulated (‘yes’ can get more votes automatically)
● Petitions
- 100,000 signatures for potential vote
- EXAMPLE - 1.6m signed a petition to stop Trump making a state visit to the UK
in 2018 - Govt. changed it to be a ‘working visit’
● Protests
- EXAMPLE - Pro Palestine protests in London, 2024 - PM Starmer limited the
number of arms sent to Israel
- EXAMPLE - Students marched in London against rising tuition fees, 2010
Evaluation of Direct Democracy
● Transparency between government and citizens
● More democratic and cooperative
● Higher engagement and education
● Impractical - time consuming, expensive
● Voters likely uneducated compared to representatives
● Can be manipulated - ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ may benefit ‘Yes’ - EXAMPLE - (Brexit 2016)
Representative Democracy
● Elected representatives make decisions on behalf of voters
● MPs elected to UK Parliament in General Elections
● MPs accountable to their voters
● PM accountable in PMQs
Evaluation of Representative Democracy
● Expertise
● Can be held accountable
● Practical
● Low turnout
● Unrepresentative - 29% of MPs are privately educated, 7% of general population
● May act out of self interest - Delegates (voters views) vs trustees (what is best)
Similarities/differences - direct and representative democracy
● Forms of democracy that allow voters to make important decisions
● Use mandate from public
● Direct - votes are equal, representative - votes are unequal depending on constituency
● Voters make decisions on their own in direct democracy
, Features of UK Democracy
● Free and fair elections
● Freedom of speech
● Freedom of the press
● Independent judiciary
Participation Crisis
● Declining turnout - 59% 2001, 78% 1959
● Falling political party membership
● Rise in safe seats - lack of motivation to vote
● Some argue that participation is evolving not disappearing, such as
- Social media
- Petitions
- Protests
- Referendums
Ways to Improve Democracy
● More referendums to increase engagement
● Lowering voting age
● Promoting e-democracy to make participation easier and more accessible
Democratic Reform
For -
● Democratic deficit
- Low turnout - EXAMPLE - 35% for EU Parliament Election (2014)
- Voting system - FPTP - no majority needed, 2 party system, wasted voted
- Institutions - Lords/SC - unelected, unaccountable, unrepresentative
Against -
● No demand - EXAMPLE - AV referendum failed
● Turnout - relatively similar to other Western democracies
Referendums
*Vote on a single issue, direct democracy*
● Since 1973 there have been 11 major referendums, mostly on devolution
● 1997 - Welsh Assembly (Yes) / 2014 - Independence (No) / 2016 - Brexit (Leave)
Advantages
● Increases participation
● Purest form of democracy
● Provides legitimacy to major constitutional changes
Disadvantages
● Voters may be uneducated
● Parliamentary authority is weakened
● Message of the referendum can be manipulated (‘yes’ can get more votes automatically)
Direct Democracy
● Referendums
- Vote on a single issue, direct democracy*
- Since 1973 there have been 11 major referendums, mostly on devolution
- 1997 - Welsh Assembly (Yes) / 2014 - Independence (No) / 2016 - Brexit (Leave)
- Advantages
● Increases participation
● Purest form of democracy
● Provides legitimacy to major constitutional changes
- Disadvantages
● Voters may be uneducated
● Parliamentary authority is weakened
● Message of the referendum can be manipulated (‘yes’ can get more votes automatically)
● Petitions
- 100,000 signatures for potential vote
- EXAMPLE - 1.6m signed a petition to stop Trump making a state visit to the UK
in 2018 - Govt. changed it to be a ‘working visit’
● Protests
- EXAMPLE - Pro Palestine protests in London, 2024 - PM Starmer limited the
number of arms sent to Israel
- EXAMPLE - Students marched in London against rising tuition fees, 2010
Evaluation of Direct Democracy
● Transparency between government and citizens
● More democratic and cooperative
● Higher engagement and education
● Impractical - time consuming, expensive
● Voters likely uneducated compared to representatives
● Can be manipulated - ‘Yes’ / ‘No’ may benefit ‘Yes’ - EXAMPLE - (Brexit 2016)
Representative Democracy
● Elected representatives make decisions on behalf of voters
● MPs elected to UK Parliament in General Elections
● MPs accountable to their voters
● PM accountable in PMQs
Evaluation of Representative Democracy
● Expertise
● Can be held accountable
● Practical
● Low turnout
● Unrepresentative - 29% of MPs are privately educated, 7% of general population
● May act out of self interest - Delegates (voters views) vs trustees (what is best)
Similarities/differences - direct and representative democracy
● Forms of democracy that allow voters to make important decisions
● Use mandate from public
● Direct - votes are equal, representative - votes are unequal depending on constituency
● Voters make decisions on their own in direct democracy
, Features of UK Democracy
● Free and fair elections
● Freedom of speech
● Freedom of the press
● Independent judiciary
Participation Crisis
● Declining turnout - 59% 2001, 78% 1959
● Falling political party membership
● Rise in safe seats - lack of motivation to vote
● Some argue that participation is evolving not disappearing, such as
- Social media
- Petitions
- Protests
- Referendums
Ways to Improve Democracy
● More referendums to increase engagement
● Lowering voting age
● Promoting e-democracy to make participation easier and more accessible
Democratic Reform
For -
● Democratic deficit
- Low turnout - EXAMPLE - 35% for EU Parliament Election (2014)
- Voting system - FPTP - no majority needed, 2 party system, wasted voted
- Institutions - Lords/SC - unelected, unaccountable, unrepresentative
Against -
● No demand - EXAMPLE - AV referendum failed
● Turnout - relatively similar to other Western democracies
Referendums
*Vote on a single issue, direct democracy*
● Since 1973 there have been 11 major referendums, mostly on devolution
● 1997 - Welsh Assembly (Yes) / 2014 - Independence (No) / 2016 - Brexit (Leave)
Advantages
● Increases participation
● Purest form of democracy
● Provides legitimacy to major constitutional changes
Disadvantages
● Voters may be uneducated
● Parliamentary authority is weakened
● Message of the referendum can be manipulated (‘yes’ can get more votes automatically)
