Direct & Representative democracy

• Direct democracy


  When people express their opinions themselves rather than a representative doing it for them
• Direct democracy


  • Referendums
  • E-petitions
• Advantages of direct democracy


  • Legitimacy to political decisions since people decide themselves
  • Decisive and avoids excessive debate
  • Decisions made by people can't be overturned by leaders
• Disadvantages of direct democracy

  • Issues may be too complex for people to judge
  • People may be swayed in judgement through emotional appeals and false claims - not enough info to make rational decision
  • People can't be held accountable for their decisions
• Representative democracy


  Voters elect politicians to make decisions on their behalf
• Advantages of representative democracy

  • Politicians have expert knowledge and experience
  • Politicians are more rational and not swayed in judgement
  • Politicians are democratically accountable and behave in responsible way
• Disadvantages of representative democracy


  • MPs may be more interested in party politics than national interest
  • Parties elect MPs, control over members
  • No guarantee that MPs reflect view of constituents
  • FPTP produces highly unrepresentative vote
• Turnout in general election low in recent years - 2001 it was 59.4%
• Turnout for referendums low too - 42.4%
• 2019 turnout 67.3%, voting was very high in crucial referendums e.g EU, Scottish independence - 84.6%
• Decrease in party membership - Conservative 2.8 million in 1950 but 172,000 in 2022, highlights mistrust - expenses scandal, floating voters
• Increase support in 2015 for smaller parties e.g UKIP, SNP which offered dramatic change, in 2018 Labour increased in membership because of Corbyn
• Clicktivism


  Low effort, low level of participation - doesn't make any changes
• Not many e-petitions are successful
• Lots of people don't really know politics so don't vote
• Social media is a tool to express opinions


  1. petitions like Marcus Rashford free school meals, Brexit referendum had 4 million signatures
• reforms to strengthen participation


  • Reducing the voting age to 16
  • Compulsory voting
  • Greater use of direct democracy, such as referendums and recall and e-petitions
  • Introduction of e-voting
  • Constitutional reform, such as the House of Lords reform
  • A change to the voting system to proportional representation