27/1/24 - British Politics Lecture 1
Democracy and the Constitution - Dr Alexandra Meakin
Part 1: Democracy in the UK
● Democracy comes from the Ancient Greek: demos (the people), kratos (power or
rule).
● Ancient Greek democracy was about self-government, an engaged and active
citizenry, participation and debate.
● The modern system of representative democracy in Britain is very different.
● The UK is divided into 650 constituencies
● Cast your ballot for one candidate in your constituency
● Candidate with the most votes in a constituency is elected as an MP to sit in the
House of Commons
● The party with the largest number of MPs in the House of Commons forms the
Government.
Unlike other countries, the UK’s democracy is different. Countries like France and America
have had a revolution before the democracy was formed:
France:
● 1789 - Start of the French Revolution & Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen
● 1792 - First Republic
America:
● 1765 - Start of the US Revolution
● 1776 - Declaration of Independence
● 1787 - US Constitution signed
UK:
● 1215 - Magna Carta (focus on the rights of Barons).
● 1265 - De Montfort Parliament (1st predecessor of the modern parliament).
● 1689 - Bill of Rights (parliamentary privilege, free elections).
● 1832-84 - Great Reform Act and reform of the franchise.
The Constitution:
● Constitution = ‘The system or body of fundamental principles according to which a
nation, state or body politic is constituted and governed’. (OED - 2022).
● Unlike the USA, there is no single UK constitution document.
● It is one of only a few democracies in the world which lacks a single written
constitution, alongside Israel and New Zealand.
● As a result, the UK constitution has been descrived as unwritten but more accurately,
it is uncodified.
● There are rules and conventions scattered across various documents including the
Bill of Rights 1689, the Parliament Act of 1911 and 1949, the Human Rights Act
1998, the Ministerial code, and the Cabinet Manual.
, Core Principles of the UK Constitution:
1. Parliamentary Sovereignty
2. Rule of Law
3. Constitutional monarchy
4. Judicial independence
5. Parliamentary government
6. Democracy (free regular, free and fair elections).
Parliamentary Sovereignty:
● ‘The UK’s central constitutional principle is parliamentary sovereignty: that parliament
can make or unmake any law - including constitutional law’. (Institute for Government
- 2023).
● ‘The right to make or unmake any law whatever and further, that no person or body is
recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the
legislation of Parliament’. (Dicey - 1885).
● The UK is a Parliamentary democracy which has a constitutional sovereign as Head
of State; a sovereign Parliament, which is supreme to all other government
institutions, consisting of the Sovereign, the HOuse of Commons and the House of
Lords ; an Executive drawn from and accountable to Parliament; and an independent
judiciary’. (The Cabinet Manual - 2011).
Hugo Young, 1998: ‘The British do not passionately care about democracy. As long as they
get a vote every few welcome toyears and the children don’t starve, they are prepared to put
up with almost anything politicians throw at them. The British choice is for a government in
permanent need of consent’.
IPSOS MORI 2023:
● Only just over a quarter of people in the UK (27%) are satisfied with the way
democracy is working, with three in five (61%) saying it worsened between 2018-
2023.
● There is a strong feeling that the economy is rigged to advantage the rich and
powerful (71%) and a desire for radical change (62%).
● Only half (53%) of people in the UK say they can influence things by voting, fewer
than in France (71%) or Sweden (77%).
Downs’s Paradox - The Paradox of Voting:
● T.J Feddersen: ‘In a large election, the probability that an individual vote might
change the election outcome is vanishingly small. If each person only votes for the
purpose of influencing the election outcome, then even a small cost to vote - like a
minor schedule conflict or mildly bad weather - should dissuade anyone from voting.
Yet it seems that many people will put up with long lines, daunting registration
requirements and even the threat of physical violence or arrest in order to vote’.
Part 2: Why do people vote?
● To have your say
● To improve your children’s lives
● Women fought for the right to vote
● Affects your daily life
Democracy and the Constitution - Dr Alexandra Meakin
Part 1: Democracy in the UK
● Democracy comes from the Ancient Greek: demos (the people), kratos (power or
rule).
● Ancient Greek democracy was about self-government, an engaged and active
citizenry, participation and debate.
● The modern system of representative democracy in Britain is very different.
● The UK is divided into 650 constituencies
● Cast your ballot for one candidate in your constituency
● Candidate with the most votes in a constituency is elected as an MP to sit in the
House of Commons
● The party with the largest number of MPs in the House of Commons forms the
Government.
Unlike other countries, the UK’s democracy is different. Countries like France and America
have had a revolution before the democracy was formed:
France:
● 1789 - Start of the French Revolution & Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen
● 1792 - First Republic
America:
● 1765 - Start of the US Revolution
● 1776 - Declaration of Independence
● 1787 - US Constitution signed
UK:
● 1215 - Magna Carta (focus on the rights of Barons).
● 1265 - De Montfort Parliament (1st predecessor of the modern parliament).
● 1689 - Bill of Rights (parliamentary privilege, free elections).
● 1832-84 - Great Reform Act and reform of the franchise.
The Constitution:
● Constitution = ‘The system or body of fundamental principles according to which a
nation, state or body politic is constituted and governed’. (OED - 2022).
● Unlike the USA, there is no single UK constitution document.
● It is one of only a few democracies in the world which lacks a single written
constitution, alongside Israel and New Zealand.
● As a result, the UK constitution has been descrived as unwritten but more accurately,
it is uncodified.
● There are rules and conventions scattered across various documents including the
Bill of Rights 1689, the Parliament Act of 1911 and 1949, the Human Rights Act
1998, the Ministerial code, and the Cabinet Manual.
, Core Principles of the UK Constitution:
1. Parliamentary Sovereignty
2. Rule of Law
3. Constitutional monarchy
4. Judicial independence
5. Parliamentary government
6. Democracy (free regular, free and fair elections).
Parliamentary Sovereignty:
● ‘The UK’s central constitutional principle is parliamentary sovereignty: that parliament
can make or unmake any law - including constitutional law’. (Institute for Government
- 2023).
● ‘The right to make or unmake any law whatever and further, that no person or body is
recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the
legislation of Parliament’. (Dicey - 1885).
● The UK is a Parliamentary democracy which has a constitutional sovereign as Head
of State; a sovereign Parliament, which is supreme to all other government
institutions, consisting of the Sovereign, the HOuse of Commons and the House of
Lords ; an Executive drawn from and accountable to Parliament; and an independent
judiciary’. (The Cabinet Manual - 2011).
Hugo Young, 1998: ‘The British do not passionately care about democracy. As long as they
get a vote every few welcome toyears and the children don’t starve, they are prepared to put
up with almost anything politicians throw at them. The British choice is for a government in
permanent need of consent’.
IPSOS MORI 2023:
● Only just over a quarter of people in the UK (27%) are satisfied with the way
democracy is working, with three in five (61%) saying it worsened between 2018-
2023.
● There is a strong feeling that the economy is rigged to advantage the rich and
powerful (71%) and a desire for radical change (62%).
● Only half (53%) of people in the UK say they can influence things by voting, fewer
than in France (71%) or Sweden (77%).
Downs’s Paradox - The Paradox of Voting:
● T.J Feddersen: ‘In a large election, the probability that an individual vote might
change the election outcome is vanishingly small. If each person only votes for the
purpose of influencing the election outcome, then even a small cost to vote - like a
minor schedule conflict or mildly bad weather - should dissuade anyone from voting.
Yet it seems that many people will put up with long lines, daunting registration
requirements and even the threat of physical violence or arrest in order to vote’.
Part 2: Why do people vote?
● To have your say
● To improve your children’s lives
● Women fought for the right to vote
● Affects your daily life
