Democracy and Participation

• Defining Democracy

  'Democracy is government, of the people, for the people, by the people.' - Abe Lincoln
• Types of democracy

  • Direct democracy
  • Representative democracy
  • Liberal democracy
  • Pluralist democracy
  • Parliamentary democracy
  • Presidential democracy
• Direct Democracy

  Laws are created via a vote in society on specific issues. Elements of direct democracy are used increasingly in the UK including referendums and petitions.
• Advantages of a direct democracy

  • People can participate directly in the decision-making process
  • The wishes of the people cannot be ignored by the elected government
  • People can become motivated to be well-informed on political issues
  • Decisions have the direct authority of the people giving them greater legitimacy
• Disadvantages of a Direct Democracy

  • The public may not fully understand the issues or policies they are voting on and elected representatives may be better informed at analysing and evaluating politics
  • Tyranny of the majority: most people vote for something that undermines the rights of a minority group
  • People may vote for populist or short term reasons
  • Holding so many votes is slow and expensive especially with countries with large populations
• Representative Democracy

  Almost all Western democracies use representative government. People vote for representatives who make decisions on their behalf. Regular elections are held to elect representatives. In the UK there are national and local elections. Most Western representative democracies are also liberal democracies.
• Liberal democracy

  A type of representative democracy; the rule of law is followed, the freedom of citizens is protected, and many different political parties compete for power.
• Pluralist democracy

  No elite groups, access to the political system for different groups who represent popular concerns to the government of the day.
• Parliamentary Democracy

  Political party with the greatest representation in parliament forms government (the executive) which is accountable to the people's representatives in parliament.
• Presidential Democracy

  Where the executive is chosen separately from the legislative body by the people directly and is accountable to them directly.
• Functions of democracy

  Representation - People get to put their views to the government

  Accountability - The government has to explain and take responsibility for its actions

  Participation - A way for the public to engage in politics

  Power Dispersal - To avoid one party or group from being too dominant

  Legitimacy - Authority to govern comes from the people

  Education - To educate and inform citizens on political issues
• Referendums in the UK

  • Enter the European Community in 1975
  • Devolved government in Scotland and Wales in 1997
  • Alternate Voting referendum 2011
  • EU Referendum 2016
• In favour of Representation

  Burke saw three dangers in democracy

  1. Government requires intelligence, ordinary people lack the intelligence to handle democracy
  2. This might lead to them being manipulated to vote for authoritarian leaders with oratory talent
  3. This could also lead to oppression and 'Tyranny of the majority'
• Types of Representation

  • Burkean or Trustee model; The MP is trusted by their voters to do what they think is best, as they have a better understanding of the issues than their constituents
  • Mandate Theory; A mandate is the authority granted by a constituency to an MP to act as its representative. As most MP's are voted for based on their party not personality, they are expected to vote in line with their party manifesto
  • Delegate Theory; MPs act as a mouthpiece to the wishes of their constituency, and don't have the freedom to apply their own judgement
• What is Suffrage?

  The right to vote. In the UK adults (18+) can vote and we have universal adult suffrage.
• Specific Requirements to vote

  To vote in a UK parliamentary election a person must be

  • Registered to vote in their constituency
  • be of voting age - 18 years on polling day
  • Be a UK citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland
  • Not subject to any incapacity to vote - be a peer in the House of Lords, prisoners serving time, criminally insane
• Before 1832

  • only rich, male landowners could vote
  • fewer than 4% of the population made up the electorate
• Great Reform Act of 1832


  Put an end to rotten boroughs and extended voting rights to adult males who rented property of a certain value. One in 5 males could vote. 6% of population.
• Second Great Reform act 1867


  Doubled the electorate and extended franchise to working men in urban areas who met property criteria to vote.
• Third Reform Act 1884

  Extended the franchise in the countryside to working males who met property criteria but 40% of males still couldn't vote.
• Representation of the People Act 1918

  All men aged 21 and over were given the right to vote and the property restriction was lifted.

  Votes were given to women over 30 who met certain property criteria.

  This increased the electorate from 7.7 Million to 21.4 Million with women making up 8.5 Million of the electorate

  7% of the electorate had more than one vote, the first election with this sytem was the 1918 general election
• Representation of the People Act 1928

  Equal sufferage for men and women with voting at 21 with no property restrictions
• Representation of the People act 1969


  extension of suffrage to 18 and above
• Debates regarding universal suffrage

  • Gender
  • Class
  • Ethnicity
  • Age
• Gender

  Women were traditionally seen as the 'weaker' sex both physically and mentally. They were not considered to have sufficient education or intelligence to vote. Opponents of women's suffrage in the 19th and 20th centuries argued that women were too emotional to vote rationally. Traditionalists felt politics would distract women from important duties in the home.
• Class

  The wealthy elite that held the franchise before 1832 were worried that their power would be reduced if more people from other classes could vote. There were fears that working-class men were too poorly educated to make informed votes. The contribution and sacrifice of working-class men during WW1 meant that denying them the vote could no longer be justified.
• Ethnicity

  There were (and arent) ethnic qualifications for voting in the UK. People of colour have been historically underrepresented in parliament. Black and Asian voters were less likely than the general population to register to vote in 2019.
• Age

  People ages 18-20 years old only received the vote in 1969, people before this believed they were too uneducated to vote. Young women aged 21-29 were denied the vote in 1918 despite their contributions to the war, as they were seen as much more emotional than older women. Today there is a campaign to give 16 and 17-year-olds the vote. In the 2014 Scottish referendum, 16 and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote as it was recognised the result would affect their lives.
• Chartists 1838-48 METHODS

  • Chartism movement was a working-class movement set up after the Great Reform Act of 1832
  • Campaigned for votes for all men aged 21 or over, secret ballots, no property criteria for voting, equal-sized constituencies, and yearly elections to parliament.
  • The movement presented three petitions signed by millions to parliament
• Chartism 1838-48 SIGNIFICANCE

  Significance

  • All 3 petitions were rejected by parliament
  • Authorities dealt harshly with unrest provoked by the rejection of the petitions
  • the movement lacked a single leader and struggled to co-ordinate different groups across the nation
  • Some Chartists called for violence which caused many middle-class supporters to leave the movement, resulting in less money for campaigning
  • Today chartists' aims have been met aside from yearly elections
• Suffragists 1860s-1918 METHODS

  • Suffragists campaigned for the vote since the 1860s
  • In 1897 they formed the National Union of Womens Suffrage Societies (NUWSS)
  • Suffragists campaigned for the vote using peaceful constitutional methods ie petitions, speeches, marches and letter-writing
• Suffragists 1860s-1918 SIGNIFICANCE

  • Women were no closer to getting the vote via peaceful methods which resulted in the creation of the suffragettes
  • NUWSS had more gthan 100,000 members in 1914
  • Millicent Fawcett (leader of NUWSS) 'slow moving, but unstoppable'
• Suffragettes 1903-1914 METHODS

  • Emmeline Pankhurst formed WSPU, the Womens Social and Political Union in 1903
  • Militant methods, including window-breaking, arson, and chaining themselves to buildings or railings
  • Suffragettes recieved harsh prison sentences, they attempted to reduce them with hunger strikes
  • Emily Davidson was killed in 1913 when protesting for women's suffrage, intercepting the king's horse at a derby
  • Leader, Christabel Pankhurst fled to France soon after
  • Movement called off their campaign in 1914 when war broke out
• Suffragettes 1903-1914 SIGNIFICANCE

  • Dealt with harshly by police and force fed in prison
  • Attracted national attention and coverage in newspapers
  • Criticised by Suffragists for using increasingly extreme measures
  • Government refused to 'give in' to violence
• Suffrage as a Human Right

  In 2005, the European Court if Human rights ruled that denying all prisoners the right to vote violated their human rights
• Hirst v UK [2005] involved a prisoner serving a sentence for manslaughter
• The prisoner argued that the UK was in breach of the Human Rights Act
• Initially dismissed by UK High Court but appealed to European Court of Human Rights where he was successful
• The UK Government did not comply with the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights
• Pressure groups such as Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust have campaigned for the government to obey the ruling