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Assess the Measures, Which Can Be Taken Into Play, to Improve Democracy in the Uk

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Assess the various measures, other than electoral reform, that have been suggested to improve democracy in the UK.

The other measures to improve democracy in the UK are: having more referendums, lowering the voting age, making voting compulsory and finally the use of digital democracy. And this essay will assess all the measures and also it will determine which measure is the best to improve democracy in the UK.

The first measure, which has been suggested to improve democracy in the UK, is the use of more referendums. A referendum is a popular vote where the people are asked to determine an important political or constitutional issue directly. A referendum has pros and cons. Firstly referendums are a device of direct democracy, which gives the general public direct and unmediated control over the governments decision making, this ensures that the public’s views and interests are always taken account of and are not distorted by politicians who claim to “represent them”. Another advantage is that referendums actually help to create a better informed, more educated and more politically engaged electorate, which gives the members of the public a strong incentive to cast there vote. Also another advantage is that referendums reduce the power of the government, because the government has less control over their outcome than it does over parliament, and therefore citizens are protected against the danger of over mighty government. And a final advantage to referendums is that there is always a clear-cut answer either yes or no.
However there are disadvantages to referendums as well such as the general public which is usually ill informed, poorly educate and lacks political experience. Therefore it leads the public into making ill-informed wrong decisions. Another disadvantage is that a referendum weakens parliaments, as decisions are not made on the basis of careful

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