What is democracy and different types

• What is democracy?

  Rule of the people
• Democracy in Athens

  First time democracy was used as a system of governance was in Ancient Greece - Athens . Athenians used Absolute / direct democracy but was never adopted for centuries in Europe . They used sortition . Any eligible male citizen could stand for office but not women , foreigners , children or slaves and couldn't serve for one year. Kleroterion used to random selection
• Direct Democracy


  Purest form of democracy , where the electorate vote on every law and policy decision directly . Every eligible citizen votes on every political decision and law
• Indirect democracy

  Only form of democracy most commonly used today . The electorate vote for their politicians who are taken entrusted to govern on their behalf and make decisions and laws that are in their behalf
• Swiss Confederation :

  1. Extremely decentralized - power is devolved = federal , cantonal and municipal with each level having its own rights to pass laws
• Swiss Confederation

  2. Collective head of state and government = Federal Council is made up of 7 officials who are chosen by the Federal Assembly . It always has 1 representative of each 4 main political parties . The President of the council is for 1 year and traditionally rotates so that every member gets the position
• Swiss Confederation

  3. Bicameral parliament = Federal Assembly is the national law making body . National Council - uses PR system and the Council of State - represents cantons . They have equal power and no law can pass without a majority from each house
• Swiss Confederation

  4. Wide eligibility for participation = Any Swiss citizen can stand for election . Each canton can decide on its own eligibility for state elections - some having different age limits and allow foreigners
• Legislative Process Switzerland:

  1. Draft bill =drawn up by the federal council with the support and guidance of experts
• Legislative Process Switzerland:

  2. Consultation = draft presented to the Cantonal governments as well as municipal governments and non governmental organisations - pressure groups , charities are consulted . Traditionally, if most Cantonal governments don't approve the draft doesn't go further
• Legislative Process Switzerland:

  3. Committee stage = following any proposed changes , bill is put to parliamentary committees to discuss behind closed doors . They may present further amendments
• Legislative Process Switzerland:

  4. Final amended draft goes before both houses of parliament for debate then for a vote . This process can take a very long time as both chambers must agree and vote with a majority
• Referendums

  Any citizen who collects 50,000 signatures can demand a referendum within 3 months of the law being passed. There are mandatory referendums that must be held for any changes to the Swiss Constitution for the nation to join a national organisation or to enact emergency legislation which bypasses the federal government. To do this ,a citizen has to collect 100,000 signatures and then the proposed law must receive the majority of votes by all cantonal government
• Referendums Case Study:

  In 2009, a constitutional amendment was made following a successful referendum initiated by private citizens banned the construction of new minarets on Islamic places of worship . This was approved by 57.5% of the participation voters . Only 3 of the twenty Swiss cantons and 1/2 canton opposed it
• Direct democracy in action

  Swiss citizens vote regularly on any kind of issue on every political level-e.g- financial approvals of a school house or building. Between 1905-2005 Swiss citizens voted 31 times on 103 federal questions
• Advantages of direct democracy:

  Develops a sense if community and genuine open debate
• Advantages of direct democracy:

  It's the true form of democracy, political parties are often run by elites or in the pockets of the wealthy, pursuing their own agendas and not truly representing the voters
• Advantages of direct democracy:

  The simplest way to ensure that every vote counts
• Advantages of direct democracy:

  Encourages popular participation in politics by expecting people to take their duties as citizens as citizens seriously and make regulae contributions to political decisions
• Advantages of direct democracy:

  Reduces the need for political who may be corrupt and incompetent or put loyalty to their party before responsibility to the electorate and betray election promises
• Advantages of direct democracy:

  People must take responsibility for their own decisions- they cannot point to others and say they are to blame
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  Referendums are expensive - £142.4million was spent in the EU referendum
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  Many people are not educated enough and are vulnerable to manipulation by the cleverest and most articulate speakers, who will persuade them to support their viewpoint
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  Impractical in a large, heavily populated modern state, where using referendums for more and more practical decisions making would be extremely slow
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  Politicians will only call referendums if they think they will win so they are largely pointless
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  Politicians are better informed than the average citizen about the many issues on which they must take a view
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  The majority opinion is not checked by sober minded representatives so minority viewpoints are disregarded and some may be vulnerable to tyranny of the majority
• Disadvantages of direct democracy:

  It could lead to citizen becoming fed up of referendum and not taking political decisions seriously
• civil rights = people have their rights protected by law
• education and information = the public are politically educated and have access to information from trustworthy sources
• smooth transition of power = there is a formal and peaceful process for handing power from one government to the next
• rule of law = the laws the government makes applies equally to everyone
• election = there are regular elections to elect representatives and in some cases to decide specific issues
• representation = people's opinions are represented by their politicians
• accountability = the government can be deselected by the people so is answerable for its decisions
• legitimacy = the government has legal authority because it has been chosen by the people
• participation = people can vote , join political parties and pressure groups , lobby and elect representatives and governments