...How democratic is the UK? The term democracy implies that the government in the UK is elected by the people for the people; this statement is true to an extent. However it is difficult to administer as most modern democracies are representative, where the public chooses who they wish to possess power to devise policies that will benefit them. Our electoral system in the UK is currently ‘First Past the Post’, where every person over 18 unless they’re in prison has the right to a single vote. ‘First Past the Post’ is an element of the UK democracy that can be seen as both democratic and undemocratic. It’s democratic because the system has survived the test of time and been relatively unchallenged, but when it has, ‘First Past the Post’ has won i.e. in the Referendum of May 5th 2011. Even if the majority win the minority can still run and succeed in the next election regardless of who won the last election. ‘First Past the Post’ can be undemocratic as if only around 60% of people vote how can the government say they represent the people when 40% of the people who can vote didn’t, this is how ‘First Past the Post’ can be seen as unfair. The system makes it very difficult for smaller parties to get elected because the three main parties dominate the elections these are Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats. For a party like the UKIP to get elected would be impossible as even though they had 3,881,099 votes they only got one seat but then the SNP had 1,454,436 had got...
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...“How can UK democracy be enhanced?” Democracy is a political system where decisions are made in the interests of the people by decision-makers who are elected, accountable and can be got rid of peacefully. There 2 types of democracy: direct and representative ones. In the UK there is a direct democracy which gives every citizen the right to participate, the opportunity to express their views, thoughts and where voters determine specific policy outcomes. There is a constant debate whether the UK is a truly democratic country or not and to what extent. It is believed that nowadays Britain has a massive issues: the electoral system is totally unfair, there are unelected political members and the lack of parties, Civil Rights are in danger, citizens no longer have a wish to participate in elections, the media is prejudged and, finally, the UK is not representative. This essay will evaluate how to make the Great Britain more democratized. The major point is that there is a low rate of political participation in the UK that might lead to an arbitrary and autocratic government. It is significant element because it makes the government more accountable. There are some ways which can prevent this undemocratic style. Firstly, the UK government can introduce the compulsory voting which is nowadays enhanced in Australia. This method would force citizens to affect the outcomes of elections and make them more politically aware of issues. The second way is to increase the use of referendums...
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...not get us very far. The problem with democracy has been its very popularity, a popularity that has threatened the term's undoing as a meaningful political concept. In being almost universally regarded as a 'good thing', democracy has come to used as little more than a 'hurrah! word', implying approval of a particular set of ideas or system of rule. Perhaps a more helpful starting point from which to consider the nature of democracy is provided by Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered in 1864 at the height of the American Civil War. Lincoln extolled the virtues of what he called 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people'. What this makes clear is that democracy serves to link government to the people, but that this link can be forged in a number of ways - government of, by and for the people. Nevertheless, the precise nature of democratic rule has been the subject of fierce ideological and political debate. The next section will look at alternative models of democracy. For the time being, however, the terms of the democratic debate are explored. This boils down to the attempt to answer two central questions: ▪ Who are the people? ▪ In what sense should the people rule? Who are the people? One of the core features of democracy is the principle of political equality, the notion that political power should be distributed as widely and evenly as possible....
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...A democratic deficit occurs when government doesn’t provide the values of democracy or when political representatives are shamed in the eyes of the public. In the UK there has been debate that Britain’s democracy is flawed. The voting system is unfair and recent expenses scandal exposed just how many politicians do not respect the position they are given. One of the main factors to argue there is a democratic deficit in the UK is the low levels of voter turnout and widespread discouragement with the FPTP system. In 2001 the UK received a general election turnout of 59.4%, the lowest since the start of universal suffrage in 1918. Low turnouts in elections will weaken the electoral mandate of the party and the legitimacy of the government, and if citizens are not participating in politics the decisions made by government are no longer in the interest of the whole nation. For instance the 2011 AV referendum got a turnout of just 42.2% so it would not accurate to base this result on a decision that will affect the whole country, when fewer than half of the population voted. Some suggest that the elections in the UK are not fair due to the “First Past the Post” voting system. The FPTP system favours two parties (the Labour and Conservative party) and this means that there is a reduced chance of smaller parties winning constituencies. In the 2010 general election the Labour party got 29% of the vote and gained 258 seats, whereas the Liberal Democrats won 23% of the votes but secured...
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...How democratic is the UK? Democracy in the UK has been questioned as to its extent and to its quality. There have been concerns over the electoral system. In particular the first- past-the-post system. On the one hand it is claimed to be a free and fair system which delivers strong government, but on the other hand it is criticised for not fairly translating votes into seats. There have been concerns surrounding the effectiveness of Parliament a vital component of UK democracy. It has been alleged that it cannot fulfil its role, by acting as a sovereign body, for instance failing to hold the government to account. In addition the recent expenses/allowances scandal has damaged the creditably of the body. On the other hand the recent rise in voter turnout (up 5% in 2010 from 2005) and a cross party acknowledgement of the need to reform shows that the body is capable of meaningful change. Democracy in the UK has been cited as open and free. Citizens can protest and show disapproval. For instance there is a strong pressure group presence to articulate democratic rights. However, the multiplicity of pressure groups can at time be seen to thwart the democratically elected government and as such a few pressure groups exert undue political influence. It has been alleged that the changes to the political system since 1997 has made the country more democratic, changes such as devolution, referendums, the Human Rights Act and the Supreme Court. However despite these changes...
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...Britain has a ‘Democratic Deficit’, Discuss. To first answer this question, you must first define what a democratic deficit actually is. A democratic deficit is when it is believed that there is a lack of democratic accountability for the decisions made within a government for a specific country. To say we have a democratic deficit in the UK seems absurd to most people. Our head of Parliament is an elected body and so are the entire occupants of the House of Commons so how can we say that we have a democratic deficit? Well, the House of Lords is a completely unelected body of government which does take part in some of the decision making in the UK and all of our laws have to be signed off and agreed to by the Queen another unelected party which is a major part of our political system. We also have numerous elections over the course of a year such as the elections for local government which make changes in a local area rather than in an entire country. Similarly, we have the elections for the European Parliament which has the power to produce laws which affect the whole of Europe so even if a country doesn’t agree or like the law, it can be implemented anyway. So, as you can see, it is possible to argue that this country does in fact suffer from a democratic deficit. The House of Lords is one of the biggest things used when arguing that this country suffers from a democratic deficit. Most members of the House of Lords are chosen by the monarchy, normally through the advice of...
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...constitution have been introduced, such as The Human Rights Act which established a codified set of rules and the introduction of devolution, Britain is currently uncodified and so this brings up the arguments of whether update the system or not The initial argument for the change is it was remove the transparency of rules and laws, the key constitutional are collected into a single document all clearly stated with great difficulty of alteration. This portrays exactly what the beliefs of Parliament are and restricts law breaking. Not only does this deter people from committing offences but also makes it simple to enforce as every charge wish be on the same wavelength. An argument to contradict this however would be that's not every crime committed is the same so the variation in the punishment given would also have to vary and with the defining of the law there is actually potential for it to become less democratic. Along with this as times are forever changing and technology is being updated, the demand for laws to be amended is crucial as without it people could technically exploit the system ‘legally’. Another bonus of a codified Constitution is the fact that it is authoritative meaning it is a higher-level and so it lines all political institutions including those that make ordinary law, such as the two chambers. The provisions of the constitution are also said to be entrenched meaning that they are difficult to amend or abolish. As a codified constitution sets out...
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... Public Bills Committee is part of legislative process, whereas Select Committee is part of scrutiny process. In the former committee, the bill is examined by line by line to ensure that its wording and language is clear to allow any amendments on the bill. In the latter committee, there are two departments – governmental and non-governmental. They examine government departments’ expeditures , policies and policies. There are between 16 to 50 members in the PBC who are selected by Committee of Selection whose 7 out 9 members are ships. On the other hand, there are 11 members in the SCs and to eliminate “the conflict of interest, all the members are backbench members who are elected using the Alternative vote system. 2a What are the main functions of Parliament and how well does it perform them? [5] < This question is a 20-mark question > 3a What are the differences between direct and representative democracy? [5] In direct democracy, people are directly involved in decision-making processes, whereas in representative democracy, people elect MPs who will represent and form a government in Parliament. For instance, some qualified members of Athenian society were involved in decision-making and a referendum is a limited form of direct democracy. Also general elections are kind of parliamentary democracy, they are held every five years to election a representative and a government. There is potential danger that decision-making mechanisms can be affected by an organised...
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...Democracy = a political system based on the idea that government should serve the interests of the people. Legitimacy = the extent to which a government has the right to rule and exercise power. Power vs. Authority: * Power= the ability to make someone do something that they would not do of their own free will * E.g - Coercion – the use of force to achieve ends – the military * Authority = the right to exercise power (based on the consent of those being ruled) * E.g - Legal/rational – HOC * E.g – Traditional – HOL Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media Modern democracies have: Political tolerance Peaceful transition of power Free, fair and regular elections The government is accountable to the people The rule of law Freedom of the media What makes a government legitimate? * Referendums (‘Yes’ answers) * High turnout * Free, fair and regular elections * Lack of dissent * Displays of public support How legitimate is the UK? Legitimate | Not legitimate | * House of Commons is elected | * Electoral system unfair and distorts political representation (FPTP) | * Government elected with mandate to govern | * Every government elected has only achieved the minority of the popular vote | * House of Lords has traditional authority and political influence is...
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...Freedom of Expression in UK Jan 15, 2014 Student Name: Question: Freedom of expression should be guaranteed in UK? Introduction Several countries oversee media in distant ways. The reason behind is to interpret the laws and regulations or principles of Human Rights as per Universal Declaration in divergent manner. The constitutional principles regarding Human Rights might include freedom of media, freedom of expression, freedom of thoughts and freedom of opinion. However, no particular universal definition is there for “Freedom of Expression.” All the events and current happenings play as a beginning point for government rules and regulations for freedom of expression in distinct contexts and peculiar political contexts. Mostly people agree upon that in a democratic society freedom of speech or freedom of expression is essential. The broadcast media, the press media and opponents of political parties must have the freedom of speech to over those who so ever are in power. This is the way to take individuals opinion about their leader’s accountable and express as a free citizen whatever they feel. So it does not make any difference how vulgar, indecent/coarse specific kind of expression it might be, an individual has got the right to express it and those who got to know this have the right to react on it. In order to cite the freedom of speech’s and expression’s role in a democratic society, this is necessary to pageant the demands of democratic society that is addressed...
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...single authoritative document outlining powers of institutions + government, as well as a statement of the rights of citizen’s ▪ Document is authoritative, highest law of the land. Binds all political institutions – leads to 2 tier legal system ▪ Provisions of it are entrenched, difficult to amend or abolish ▪ It is judiciable, all political bodies are subject to authority of the courts, in particular a supreme court. o Uncodified – increasingly rare, UK one of few ▪ Not authoritative, constitutional laws treated same as ordinary laws ▪ Not entrenched, constitution can be changed through the normal process for enacting statute law. ▪ Not judiciable, judges do not have legal standard to declare that actions of other bodies are constitutional/not constitutional. o However: ▪ No constitution is entirely written, written documents do not encompass all aspects of constitutional practice ▪ No constitution is entirely unwritten, no constitution consisting only of rules of conduct or behaviour. • Unitary and federal o Unitary – establish constitutional supremacy of central government over provincial and local bodies. Reflected in UK via Parliament o Federal – divide sovereignty between 2 levels of government, both central and regional posses a range of powers that the other...
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...merits of the political reform process underway in the UK. You should examine the proposed changes under a number of headings including but not limited to the electoral system, the House of Lords, and open government. You must discuss why potential reform should take place, its observable implications and consider comparative examples where the changes already exist. Elections are an integral figure in any countries political system. Elections are also important symbolically in most competitive party systems, legitimizing a country’s political system in the eyes of it citizens. They offer a means of participating in politics, elections also give a feeling that they are exercising choices about who should represent them in the national parliament and about who should form the next government. One common debate of which Party System is best to run a Nation has long been argued by politicians and also which is the electoral system that governs the conduct of elections. With elections, change or reform can always be seen and in one case the United Kingdom is a perfect example, in May 2010 the first united coalition in the Britain since World War 2 and now currently there is an on-going debate for political reform in the UK regarding the current electoral system. Would new government bring closure to the drama of reform in The House of Lords? Or would the unelected house continue to cause up-set? The conservatives aimed to bring more transparency to the government of the UK in their manifesto...
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...How much does state intervention in the media system vary between Malaysia and the United Kingdom? In 2012, Freedom House ranked Malaysia 144th out of 197 countries in their press freedom survey, labelling it “not free” because it continues to stifle the voices of critical journalists. How is it possible that a former colony of Britain, a nation with a free press tradition, ended up in this scandalous situation? Let us compare the media systems of the United Kingdom (UK) and Malaysia today. Autonomy vs. state intervention It is common to hear that the Malaysian journalistic field is restricted in reporting political and public issues (Kenyon, 2010). As one of many developing countries that support the guided press notion, the Malaysian government argues that by curbing certain freedoms within the mass media, the aims of national development can be met (Raj & Sreekumar, 2012). As a result, Malaysian journalists are swallowed in boundless lengths of red tape – all of which are adversely used in the government’s favour to constrain the media’s freedom of speech. Some of Malaysia’s legislations can be traced back to their inception during the British colonial period (Omar, 1996). In the face of a Communist insurgency in 1948, a state of emergency was declared. The Malayan Emergency, as it was dubbed, marked the beginning of a series of media campaigns implemented by Government Information Services to impede subversion and infiltration while promoting loyalty to the government...
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...The UK would benefit greatly from the wider use of referendumss? Discuss. A referendum is a form of direct democracy that involves a public vote on a single issue of public policy. It is a way of presenting a debated issue to public decision. The most recent referendum was in the UK; the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum which asked the question whether Scotland should break away from the UK or not. There are a variety of arguments both for and against the wider use of referendum in the UK. The use was greatly favoured by Tony Blair and his new Labour government in 1997 because they took the view that referendum was a democratic device that allows people the opportunity to give a direct voice in decision making. Therefore, any decision made via referendum acquires legitimacy because it has popular approval. Moreover, referendums can encourage political participation which will help the declining participation of the UK in the way that as referendums are where people can get directly involve in the decision making, they will see this as opportuniy to contribute to the political world as themselves, thereby encouraging them to turn out in election to vote and increase participation like in the 2014 Scottish referendum where the participation brough about a turnout of 84.59% compared to the 2010 general election turnout of 65.1%. Shown clearly in the example is the clear difference between participation of direct democracy and representative democracy which would greatly...
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...Home and Abroad………………………........................................... 6 II. Neutral and Worthwhile Political Role………………………………............................................... 7 III. Uniting and Stabilizing the Nationality……………...……………….............................................. 7 B. Weaknesses…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 I. An Obsolete and Non-democratic Institution………...……………………………………………... 8 II. Obstructing the Future Development of the Britain…….………………………………………. 8 III. Expensive……………………………………………...…………………………………………………………. 9 6. Comparison to American Head of State…………………………………………………………………… 11 7. Recommendation……………………………………………..……………………………………………………. 11 8. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12 9. References……………………………………………..……………………………………………………………… 14 1. Introduction Monarchy was the primary government form for a majority of European countries before 1914 (Bogdanor, 1995). However, in modern Europe, few countries retain the monarchies. The United Kingdom, as one of the most developed countries, still maintains the position of monarch as the head of state. Today’s British monarchy, which is also called a Constitutional Monarchy, is quite different from the past ‘absolute monarchy’. “The monarchical shell remains intact, but the inner workings have been taken over by party political leaders,” says Norton (2007). In the past, the monarch...
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