Pros & Cons - Direct & Representative Democracy

• Direct Democracy:

  Gives equal weight to all votes.

  • contrasts with representative democracy, where the electoral system and

  constituencies will mean that votes are of unequal value.
• Direct Democracy:

  Encourages participation in politics.
• Direct Democracy:

  Removes the need for trusted representatives and minimises the possibility for corruption/the will of the people not being followed.
• Direct Democracy:

  Develops a sense of community and encourages genuine debate, with people feeling like they have a real stake in the political system.
• Direct Democracy:

  Impractical in large, heavily populated modern states; complicated decision making.
• Direct Democracy:

  Many people will not feel qualified to participate in decision-making or want to make important political decisions regularly. A lower turnout gives lower legitimacy to the result.
• Direct Democracy:

  Open to manipulation by other factors: media, other people, celebrities
• Direct Democracy:

  Minority viewpoints disregarded, as it is a majoritarian system and the views of the majority

  aren’t mediated through parliament.

  • is often criticised for encouraging ‘tyranny of the majority’
• Representative Democracy:

  representative democracy is the only practical system in a large country with complex problems needing rapid responses.

  • this is especially important during crises such as COVID.
• Representative Democracy:

  Parties represent the public and give people a real choice of representatives (though arguably not that wide a choice).
• Representative Democracy:

  Reduces the chances of tyranny of the majority, by giving minorities a voice in parliament.
• Representative Democracy:

  elections allow representatives to be held to account, ensuring responsible behaviour.
• Representative Democracy:

  Politicians are (in theory) better informed than the average citizen and less likely to be swayed by emotional appeals.
• Representative Democracy:

  May lead to reduced participation as responsibility is handed to politicians.
• Representative Democracy:

  Parties and politicians don't necessarily represent the best interests of the people.
• Representative Democracy:

  Minorities are still underrepresented as they don't hold much electoral weight.
• Representative Democracy:

  Politicians are skilful in avoiding accountability, especially as elections are relatively infrequent and politicians seek to shape their own image.
• Representative Democracy:

  Politicians may put their interests and their party's interests before those of the people and

  betray election promises.

  • For example in 2010 when the Liberal Democrats didn’t follow manifesto promises to scrap tuition fees for students when in coalition government with the Conservatives.
• Representative Democracy:

  in the UK’s FPTP electoral system, representatives are often elected with less than 50% of the vote and it’s therefore likely that more people disagree than agree with them.

  • The same is true of governments, which almost always don’t have majority support from the population, even before turnout is taken into account.