2. Topic 1: The Nature of Democracy
• Lets start with this
• What is politics?
• Politics is about how we are governed. Ways in which
decisions are made about government, state and public
affairs: where power lies, how governments and states
work, and different theories and practices such as
democracy, equality, tyranny and violence.
3. 3 Main elements
• Be able to explain and define certain and
make distinctions between democratic
principals.
• Be able to analyse various democratic
elements and processes.
• Be able to evaluate proposed changes to
democracy and the extent to which the UK
conforms to democratic values
4. Some key terms to get us going
• Power
• Legitimacy
• Authority
• Democracy
• Government
• Parliament
• Direct Democracy
• Representative
Democracy
• Referendum
• Political Party
• Pressure Group
• Ideology
• Liberal democracy
5. Democracy = a political system based
on the idea that government should
serve the interests of the people.
People should not be afraid of their
governments, governments should be
afraid of their people.
6. From this point on you are in teams
and you will build up a team score
• Each week there will be set points that will
require you – as a team to answer questions.
• You will receive credit for correct answers
• There will be a weekly team prize
• There will be an ultimate prize for the overall
winners
8. What’s the difference between
power and 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 – House of Commons
E.g – Traditional – House of Lords
12. House of Commons
is elected
Elections are
free and fair
Elections are
held regularly
There is a lack
of dissent
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13. Electoral system unfair and
distorts political
representation (FPTP)
Every government
elected has only
achieved the minority of
the popular vote
House of Lords members are
not elected and so do not
have the people’s consent
Plus – the 2010 Coalition lacked legitimacy
because no party won an overall majority
and therefore the coalition does not have
an electoral mandate
4
14. How legitimate is the UK Government?
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 widely recognised
House of Lords members are
not elected and so do not
have the people’s consent
Plus – the 2010 Coalition lacked legitimacy because no party won an overall majority
and therefore the coalition does not have an electoral mandate
15. Political Participation: How do you do it?
Voting
Contact
local politician
Member of
political party.
Wearing a party badge
or putting up campaign
poster
Seeking election
Membership of
pressure groups
Attending meeting,
canvassing,
distributing leaflets
Television or
radio
phone-in programme
Participating opinion
polls or focus groups.
Taking direct action
Political violence
Political discussion.
5
16. Home work
• Revise the different forms of democracy
– Direct
– Representative
– Liberal
– Pluralist
17. We are all in this together
• Group C – Direct Democracy – pros/cons and examples –
compare with Representative Democracy
• Group B – Representative Democracy – pro/cons and
examples – compare with Direct Democracy
• Groups D – Liberal and Pluralist democracy –
definitions/differences – compare to direct and representative
democracy
• Group A– Referendums – what/when/pros/cons and
examples
• Prepare a presentation 5 minutes maximum for tomorrows lesson, e mail to me or
bring on a stick. (Try to keep to 6 slides )
18. Please score each of the sections in the presentations out of 10: Give a total
out of 30
Content Clarity Style Total Score
Team A
Team B
Team C
Team D
27. Electoral system bias
• The Liberal Democrats received 23 per cent of
the vote, and only 8.8 per cent of seats. This is
a systematic property of the FPTP electoral
system, demonstrated again and again in UK
election results.
29. Why do people participate?
• Most democratic citizens feel that some level of political participation,
particularly conventional participation, is admirable and acceptable. But
political participation can be hard: One must find time, and perhaps
money, in order to participate. So why do people do it? People participate
in politics out of a sense of the following:
• Idealism: Some participate because they believe strongly in a particular
idea.
• Responsibility: For many, participation is a responsibility of democratic
citizenship.
• Self-interest: A person might work to promote issues and causes that
personally profit that person.
• Enjoyment: Some simply enjoy public activity, either because of the
activity itself or because of the friends they make while politically
engaged.
31. Votes at 16
For
• Young people
become politically
aware
• Improved political
identification
• Makes political
education relevant
Against
• Too young to make a
judgement
• Lack of interest
• Deliberate distortion
of policies to attract
young voters
Education
For
• Improved political
knowledge
• Encourages engagement
Against
• Expensive
• Would it really generate
interest?
E Democracy
For
• Greater access
• Direct democracy
• Increased turnout
• Access to independent data
Against
• Fraud/Hacking
• Exclusion of those who have
not got internet access
Compulsory Voting
For
• Increased turnout
• Forces people to think about politics
• Results have greater legitimacy
Against
• Abuse of freedom
• Expensive
• Cannot solve apathy
32. Is the UK Democratic? Yes we are
1. Regular and free elections
2. Free Media
3. Many democratic institutions
4. Freedom to vote, be elected etc
5. Government is accountable to Parliament and
the people
6. Use of Referendums
7. Convention of Human Rights
8. Rule of Law applies to all
9. Freedom of information Act
33. Is the UK Democratic? No we are not
1. House of Lords
2. Unfair voting system
3. Government elected on a minority vote
4. Powers of the PM
5. No written constitution
6. Power transfers to EU
7. Declining political participation
8. Growing political disengagement
34. How to solve these problems?
• Disillusionment with politicians
• Power of recall if an MP is unsatisfactory
• People feel excluded from politics
• Lower the voting age, more referendums
• Ignorance of political issues
• Greater political/citizenship education
• Low electoral turnout
• Reform of the voting system to PR, make it easier to
vote
35. How can
democracy be
improved?
Elected
Head of
State
Elected
second
chamber
Reform
the
voting
system
Increase the use of
referendums
Codified
Constitution
Decentralised
political system
For each of these points you
must be able to make points
for and against
36. “In what ways has political participation in the UK declined in recent years?”
(10)
• The first thing to note is that this question is asking you how participation has declined, not why it
has declined. Failure to appreciate this distinction will cost you valuable marks. Neil McNaughton’s
AS level textbook points out that participation has declined in 3 main ways:
• 1) Voter turnout
• 2) Party membership
• 3) Partisan dealignment
• For this type of question, 7 marks are awarded for Knowledge and Understanding (AO1), and 3
marks are allocated for your level of explanation (AO2). Good exam technique to access all these
marks is:
• 1) Write 3 paragraphs
• 2) Focus on a major point in each paragraph, e.g. voter turnout
• 3) Include 2-3 facts in each paragraph – e.g. levels of turnout across a number of elections
• 4) Explain your facts by linking to the question – e.g. why voter turnout is an important
indicator of levels of participation.
37. Model answer
In what ways has political participation declined in the UK in a recent years?
• One sign that participation has declined in the UK is falling voter turnout. In 1979 76% of the electorate
turned out to vote, whereas in 2001 it declined to 59.4%, recovering only slightly to 65.2% in 2010. Voting
is an important form of political participation because it is the direct involvement of citizens in the
selection of their political leaders. It’s decline is an important indicator of a fall in participation.
• A second indicator of falling participation is levels of party membership. In 1980 nearly 1.7 million people
were members of a political party, about 4.12% of the electorate. This had declined to only 476,000 by
2008, a mere 0.95% of the population. Conservative Party membership fell from 1.2 million to 0.17 million
in the same period. By joining a political party people are involved in influencing their politicians and
taking part in campaigning, hence their increasing unwillingness to do so shows a significant fall in
participation.
• Finally, an idea called partisan dealignment suggests that participation has fallen in the UK. This idea
means that people increasingly identify less closely with political parties than they used to. Traditionally,
many working class people, for example, got involved with and voted for Labour out of class loyalty. Such
loyalty to a political party has declined significantly over the past 30 years, and suggests that fewer
people are taking an interest in politics and participation.
• AO1 Knowledge (7 marks) – non-italicised
• AO2 Explanation (3 marks) – italicised
38. What do we mean by Democratic deficit?
• A democratic deficit is when a political state is more undemocratic than
democratic. Policies to address this deficit are usually described as
democratic renewal.
• The reasons why there is a democratic deficit include:
• falling political participation
– renewal policies include increasing voter turnout in general and trying to
engage young people with the democratic process.
• the persistence of undemocratic institutions within the system of
government - e.g. the House of Lords
– renewal policies generally involve constitutional and parliamentary reform
• the increased centralisation of power that is insufficiently accountable
within government - e.g. the prime minister's prerogative powers.
– renewal policies generally include devolution and other constitutional
reforms.
39. What do we mean by Democratic renewal?
• To fix the deficit we renew
1. The increased use of the internet and social networking by government,
parties and other political agencies might engage more people in
politics, especially the young.
2. Extending the voting age to 16 plus might engage young people at an
earlier stage.
3. The reform of institutions referred to in the previous lesson, including a
reformed voting system,
4. might possibly help to correct the low esteem in which politicians and
institutions are now held.
5. Citizenship education might be more focused on respect for institutions
and an understanding of key issues.
6. The further use of television debates, as used in the 2010 election,
might engage a wider range of people.
7. Improved and more convenient voting systems, such as postal votes and
internet voting, might help to increase turnout.
40. Assessment
1. What is meant by Pluralist democracy? (5)
2. Explain 3 ways in which the British political
system may be seen as undemocratic (10)
3. Explain the democratic deficit and ways in
which it can be eliminated. (25)
