PAPER 1:
● Democracy and Participation
● Political Parties
● Electoral systems
● Voting behaviour and the media
The politics of the UK
Democracy and participation
Key concepts and terminology:
● direct democracy
● representative democracy
● suffrage
● participation
● partisan dealignment - Partisan dealignment is a process in which individuals
become less partisan in terms of their support for a particular political party. The last
decades, since the 1970s, have seen an increase in the process of partisan
dealignment in many countries as voters become less connected to their political
party.
Focus
● how suffrage has changed since the Great Reform Act (1832) to the present
○ 1872 Ballot Act made secret voting compulsory
○ 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes fought for [white] woman’s
rights
○ Representation of the People Act 1928
● Advantages and disadvantages of representative democracy
○ Carried out by government officials - politically educated decisions - HOC an
HOL
○ Interest of the citizens as opposed to DD’s self-interest centred voting - =
majoritarian democracy
○ Accountability
BUT
○ MP’s are often disengaged from the public
○ Pressure groups and lobbyists create a ‘bubble’ which disconnects voters
○ Outside interests - e.g George Osborne became editor of the ‘Evening
Standard’ whilst employed
○ FPTP means smaller parties struggle to gain rep
○ Social make-up is very white male dominated
○ HOL is unelected and so can’t be held accountable
● debates regarding gender, class, ethnicity and age
○
● suffrage as a human right
○ Votes at 16 - legislated in Scotland in 2015 after the 2014 Scottish
referendum
, ○ Prisoners aren’t allowed to vote - discussed in 2011, 234 MP’s against and
only 22 in favour
○ Pressure groups such as Howard League for Penal Reform support prisoner
voting
○ Compulsory voting - Australia has it, in its 2016 elections it saw a 91% turnout
- everyone has an opinion, but some argue NOT voting is an opinion in itself,
also gives state too much power for influence
Students will be required to analyse and evaluate:
● the nature of democracy
● different types of democracy – direct democracy, representative government
● patterns of participation and different forms of participation.
● Referendums - 2016 EU ref and 2014 Scottish Independence referendum
● E-petitions - if on reaches 100,000 signs it must be discussed in parliament.
E.g a second referendum on the leaving of the EU
● Consultative exercises - expansion of Heathrow
● Open primaries - public directly decide who the candidate should be for
parliament
Elections and referendums
Key concepts and terminology:
● majoritarian and proportional electoral systems
● representative democracy
● suffrage
● participation
● voting behaviour
● manifesto
● campaign
● referendums.
Focus
● debates and issues around the performance of FPTP
○ Simple
○ Strong government - single party is stable
○ MP - Constituency link
○ Centrist policies - keeps extremism out of office
BUT
○ Two party system !
○ Unequal vote value - different constituencies hold different value
○ Majority isn’t needed
○ Winners bonus causes disproportionate results with the winning party being
over-represented
● the advantages and disadvantages of other systems
● AMS [Scotland and Wales]
○ Reduced amount of wasted votes
○ More voter choice - can vote for multiple parties, encourages more smaller
parties to run!
○ Board popularity in government is needed for a party to win through AMJS
● Democracy and Participation
● Political Parties
● Electoral systems
● Voting behaviour and the media
The politics of the UK
Democracy and participation
Key concepts and terminology:
● direct democracy
● representative democracy
● suffrage
● participation
● partisan dealignment - Partisan dealignment is a process in which individuals
become less partisan in terms of their support for a particular political party. The last
decades, since the 1970s, have seen an increase in the process of partisan
dealignment in many countries as voters become less connected to their political
party.
Focus
● how suffrage has changed since the Great Reform Act (1832) to the present
○ 1872 Ballot Act made secret voting compulsory
○ 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes fought for [white] woman’s
rights
○ Representation of the People Act 1928
● Advantages and disadvantages of representative democracy
○ Carried out by government officials - politically educated decisions - HOC an
HOL
○ Interest of the citizens as opposed to DD’s self-interest centred voting - =
majoritarian democracy
○ Accountability
BUT
○ MP’s are often disengaged from the public
○ Pressure groups and lobbyists create a ‘bubble’ which disconnects voters
○ Outside interests - e.g George Osborne became editor of the ‘Evening
Standard’ whilst employed
○ FPTP means smaller parties struggle to gain rep
○ Social make-up is very white male dominated
○ HOL is unelected and so can’t be held accountable
● debates regarding gender, class, ethnicity and age
○
● suffrage as a human right
○ Votes at 16 - legislated in Scotland in 2015 after the 2014 Scottish
referendum
, ○ Prisoners aren’t allowed to vote - discussed in 2011, 234 MP’s against and
only 22 in favour
○ Pressure groups such as Howard League for Penal Reform support prisoner
voting
○ Compulsory voting - Australia has it, in its 2016 elections it saw a 91% turnout
- everyone has an opinion, but some argue NOT voting is an opinion in itself,
also gives state too much power for influence
Students will be required to analyse and evaluate:
● the nature of democracy
● different types of democracy – direct democracy, representative government
● patterns of participation and different forms of participation.
● Referendums - 2016 EU ref and 2014 Scottish Independence referendum
● E-petitions - if on reaches 100,000 signs it must be discussed in parliament.
E.g a second referendum on the leaving of the EU
● Consultative exercises - expansion of Heathrow
● Open primaries - public directly decide who the candidate should be for
parliament
Elections and referendums
Key concepts and terminology:
● majoritarian and proportional electoral systems
● representative democracy
● suffrage
● participation
● voting behaviour
● manifesto
● campaign
● referendums.
Focus
● debates and issues around the performance of FPTP
○ Simple
○ Strong government - single party is stable
○ MP - Constituency link
○ Centrist policies - keeps extremism out of office
BUT
○ Two party system !
○ Unequal vote value - different constituencies hold different value
○ Majority isn’t needed
○ Winners bonus causes disproportionate results with the winning party being
over-represented
● the advantages and disadvantages of other systems
● AMS [Scotland and Wales]
○ Reduced amount of wasted votes
○ More voter choice - can vote for multiple parties, encourages more smaller
parties to run!
○ Board popularity in government is needed for a party to win through AMJS
