...Assess the arguments in favor of the greater use of direct democracy in the UK Direct democracy, or also know as pure democracy allows people to decide and vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to representative democracy where people vote for representatives who then decide the policy’s, where they peoples interest’s are meant to be at heart. Direct democracy derived from ancient Greece when people had a vote in what decisions were made, however women, foreigners and slaves were excluded from voting. Now days many countries with representative democracies allow forms of direct democracy through referendums, initiative and recall. There are many benefits to direct democracy, including promoting a democratic and well-cooperated society. People have power and a say, and this opinion needs to be listened to by the government in order to please the citizens. It also provides a responsibility of the government to the people, all people have this power of a vote, and the government needs to listen to peoples concerns, as the politicians and the government will be held responsible for the well being of the people. Referendums are a form of direct democracy, and have been used in the UK many times, with the most recent being the Scottish referendum, allowing the people of Scotland to decide if they wanted to remain a part of the UK. One argument against the use of more referendums would be that the general public are not always as educated in the decision as a representative...
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...“The word democracy is Greek in origin and literally means people power. In ancient Athens all adult male(women and slave were exclude) were directly involved in making decision which affected the whole community.”(Lowe C & Owen V, 2015) Now, Britain is using representative democracy, which means not everyone can influence decision making, and decide questions of national importance, except constitutional change. That is a good idea, because the use of referendums has more disadvantages. Nowadays, with the increase of number of citizen in the UK, although the citizen is a part of the UK, they do want to take part in deciding issues of national importance, and their opinion are really important, but we should know that is difficult or impossible...
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...Influence of the EU on industrial Democracy in the UK: Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. In some European countries the structures of Industrial Democracy have been in place for decades but the ideas behind Industrial Democracy do not fit in well with the more aggressive relationship that has existed between managers and unions in British companies. European legislation encourages a much more prominent role for workers in a firm’s decision making process.The new 'partner based relationships' where unions and management works toward thesame goals, exist in British industry because of the present EU influence.Now Unions are perceived as an institution existing to educate management and employeesthe benefit of involving workers in decision making process.As a result, employee involvement in decision making has become functional, by this meansimpacting positively on workers performance and enhancing their contribution to thesuccess of the organization.Now works council is made up of representatives of all departments within a firm.The role of works councils is to discuss long term objectives of the business and to suggeststrategies for improving the future prospects of the business.There is also an option for Worker Shareholders and Worker Partners, who have a stake inthe ownership of the business.Share holdings are often encouraged by the use of share option and saving schemes...
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...Government and Politics Megan Barry ‘Should direct democracy be more widely used in the UK?’ Direct democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. This means that political decisions are put forward to the people as they are the ones who are going to be directly affected by the outcome of the decision. An example of direct democracy used occasionally in society is referendums. A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. Within this essay I am going to be arguing whether direct democracy should be used more widely by weighing up the benefits and the disadvantages of direct democracy and the result on the general public. One argument for direct democracy being used more extensively in the UK is that it gives a more advanced and more accurate representation of the public’s attitude on an issue raised in parliament. Many local citizens do not often communicate with their MP; occasionally it can be difficult for Parliament to come to a decision that accurately reflects public opinion. MPs have to make choices bases what they personally feel is right and is not always entirely what the public want. Referendums give a distinct result that reflects the public’s demands. This is better as the public are satisfied and there is little need for ‘guess-work’ by the government. An example...
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...Democracy is defined as the government of the people, by the people and for the people. In a democracy people have influence over or access to decision making and everyone must be treated equally. Direct democracy is a system in which every voter can take part in reaching a decision. The most obvious modern version is referendum where people vote “yes” or “no” to a specific question. Switzerland holds referendum at least three times a year to make the most important decisions even though they elect a parliament which is left to minor decisions. However, they hardly ever take place in the UK (the last one was in 1975), normally only at a time of constitutional change or when the issue is serious and based on public opinion. One argument in favour of a greater use of direct democracy would be that direct democracy is the purest form of democracy and reflects perfectly the view of all the citizenry. There is not a difference between the people and the government and the people can shape their society accurately. However, direct democracy is impractical in a large society with 45 million voters. The amount of money and time that referendums take is not suitable for urgent decisions. Another argument to support the use of direct democracy would be that it prevents politicians from going beyond their power when making decisions and it would increase legitimacy as the government is getting direct consent from the people through such methods such as referendums. Nevertheless, direct...
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...Assess the various measures, other than electoral reform, that have been suggested to improve democracy in the UK. The other measures to improve democracy in the UK are: having more referendums, lowering the voting age, making voting compulsory and finally the use of digital democracy. And this essay will assess all the measures and also it will determine which measure is the best to improve democracy in the UK. The first measure, which has been suggested to improve democracy in the UK, is the use of more referendums. A referendum is a popular vote where the people are asked to determine an important political or constitutional issue directly. A referendum has pros and cons. Firstly referendums are a device of direct democracy, which gives the general public direct and unmediated control over the governments decision making, this ensures that the public’s views and interests are always taken account of and are not distorted by politicians who claim to “represent them”. Another advantage is that referendums actually help to create a better informed, more educated and more politically engaged electorate, which gives the members of the public a strong incentive to cast there vote. Also another advantage is that referendums reduce the power of the government, because the government has less control over their outcome than it does over parliament, and therefore citizens are protected against the danger of over mighty government. And a final advantage to referendums is that there...
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...To what extent does democracy in the UK suffer from a ‘participation crisis’? There has been a decrease in the general election turnouts, suggesting a participation crisis that can arguably cause the party that gains the position of govt. to lack legitimacy. In 2001 the general election turnout was 59 per cent. Furthermore, there has been a gradual decline in party membership numbers for the three main parties, signifying partisan dealignment, less than 1 per cent of the UK’s electorate is currently part of the Conservatives, Labour or Lib Dems. Additionally, participation in other areas of UK politics such as the election of MEP’s, is showing an obvious participation crisis, resulting in the party UKIP dominating the UK for the EU parliament, the turnout for 2014 was 34 per cent. Lastly, further emphasising the current participation crisis in the UK referendum turnouts have been traditionally low, this means decisions implemented based on these results lack legitimacy, the turnout for the AV referendum in 2011 was 42 per cent. However, contrary to previous turnout figures the Scottish devolution referendum had a historic turnout of 85 per cent, suggesting that the current participation crisis democracy in the UK is improving. Moreover, although party membership for the UK is currently at a historic low, pressure group membership has increased dramatically. Suggesting, the electorate are turning to pressure groups for more effective representation. Noticeably, the pressure group...
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...To what extent does democracy in the UK, suffer from a ‘participation crisis’? (25 marks) One main concern to why people would argue that the UK is suffering from ‘participation crisis’ is due to a decrease in social capital.The argument is that there is a lack of connection as people are more concerned about themselves, rather than the larger society and general public. This lack of connection leads the public to have a lack of engagement towards politics, meaning less people are interested in how the uk is governed. People of the public have said that they are less willing to take part in deciding national issues in Europe as they have described it to be ‘boring’, they argued that they have less trust and lack a sense of socialness towards politics. Reports from ‘Department of Business’ showed that in 2012 statistics show that only 6.5 million employees were trade union members; which has hugely decreased from the 13 million trade union members in 1979. THis is evidence of how Britain suffers from a large participation crisis. Another recent argument put forward by a journalist, Aman Ubhi from ‘ShoutOutUK’ argues that the UK suffers from a participation crisis due to the public’s social life and a lack of timing to commit to politics. He concluded that the majority of the public argued that “my vote will not make a difference regardless” which results to fewer people getting involved in politics. This lack of participation is shown in election turnouts. Looking at past...
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...direct democracy in the UK (25 marks) Direct democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. Direct Democracy is supposedly meant to remove the division between the government and the people being governed. The UK currently has a representative democracy with aspects of direct democracy. Direct democracy is genuine democracy in action. With popular participation emerges the precise and true view of all the citizenry. The people determine their future and shape accurately their society. There is no vacuum or distinction between the government and the people. For example this clear link can be seen in the case of the Scottish referendum on independence in 2014. However, the above may be more a reflection of an ideal and an aspiration than a functional practical possibility. In a large scale society direct democracy is not achievable, with voting population of almost 45 million. This means there is too many varying opinions for the public to come up with clear concise decisions. Representative Democracy requires the voter to vote for some candidate or party with whom they are very unlikely to agree on everything - the 'take it or leave it' option. Direct Democracy allows voters to vote on the issues separately. The problems with representative democracy can be seen in the case of the Liberal democrats as once they got into office very few of their policies came to fruition. However in general when representative democracy is used...
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...Essay : To what extent does democracy in the UK suffer from a ‘participation crisis’? Political participation is defined as opportunities for and tendencies of the people to become involved in the political process. At a minimum level this will involve voting, but may also involve active work in political parties and pressure groups. At the higher/highest level it implies standing for public office. However with regards to the United Kingdom suffering from a participation crisis, I would like to agree. Simply because, there has been a low turnout at general elections, which undermines the mandate of the government and threatens the idea that the UK is a representative democracy. Between 1922 and 1997 turnout remained above 71%. At the 2001 general election the turnout was59.4%; in 2005 it was 61.4%; in 2010 it was 65.1%; and in 2015 it was66.1%. Various people may consider the minor increase in percentage but overall there has not been a significant increase. Key forms of participation, such as voting and party membership have declined significantly over time, but other newer, faster forms have arisen and are slowly becoming more popular to the newer generations such as Referendums, particularly in Scotland. Popular engagement with the formal processes and institutions of democracy has been in long – term decline since the 1960’s. The turnout in 2001 was the lowest; this is compared to how between 1945 and 1992 it was always about 75 percent. Through this, it can be seen that...
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...reform, that have been suggested to improve democracy in the UK. Democracy in the UK has declined since the post war dramatically, this is shown in many ways. Participation levels have fallen majorly in the past years and mainly due to the reason that people feel their votes are wasted and so they're not being represented in society and this is the main way that democracy has fallen this has clearly been shown in statistics whereby the norms for general election turn outs was at a high 75% however in the year 2005 it has dropped considerably to 60%. The first, most effective way of improving democracy is to increase the use of the referendum. through this strategy, it will ensure that the public is educated about the political issues at hand and therefore will be more willing to vote in political matters as they understand the question given. Also, through the use of referenda it will increase the legitimacy of the government as the people have given their consent through their vote, especially as the referendum is the most direct form of democracy. This has been shown to be a positive and effective way of increasing participation levels as in the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum when the participation rate was up to 87% which is the highest turnout since the 1950 general election. This would make the UK more democratic as it would include all parts of society whilst having all views expressed. Improving democracy in such a way does have problems. Too many referendums...
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...• Quality: Reduce the number of select committees MPs who are part of the government, part of the opposition front bench, or who are whips, are not permitted (for obvious reasons) to sit on select committees. This means that there is roughly one select committee place per eligible MP. Consequently, serving on a select committee is a routine rather than a hard-fought honor, and attendance on committees is often low. If the number of select committees were reduced, this would reduce the number of places and increase the competition for places. The departmental link would have to be broken, but broader remits with competent and fully attended committees would more than make up the difference. Places on committees would once again be competitive and the best people would sit on them. • Power: The power to call for real evidence Select committees have the power to call people to appear as witnesses and for papers and records to be sent to the committee for scrutiny (rather like a court of law). There are two exceptions. One is the royal family, which is not relevant here. The second, which is extremely relevant, considering the role of select committees to scrutinise government, is government. It seems incredible that select committees do not have the power to call ministers to appear before them, and that they do not have the power to demand to see government papers. I have observed select committees forced to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to get hold of government...
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...How powerful is the UK Parliament? The Westminster Parliament is the UK’s highest political institution, making decisions on issues important to citizens throughout Britain. The Houses of Commons and Lords are responsible for passing legislation, scrutinising the government and debating issues. Retaining a high level of sovereignty despite devolution, seating dominating majority governments and possessing unprecedented constitutional flexibility, the UK Parliament wields a great deal of power. Political scientist Arend (Lijphart, 1999) first branded democracies as ‘consensual’ or ‘majoritarian.’ The UK parliament is said to be majoritarian, with a strong governing party and Cabinet, a lesser presence of small parties, minimal decentralisation,...
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...quality life UK, as a developed country, undoubtedly has a high quality of life and owns important international influence because of its strong economy and military. How does one island country become so powerful? The suitable environment, democratic politics system and colorful culture constitute the great country. UK’s nice environment not only be good for local people’s quality of life, but also influences the economic development of UK. First of all, UK has ample natural resources, the strategic resource played important part in UK’s history. For example, British took advantage of the abundant coal and oil finished its industrial revolution quickly, right now, UK’s CO2 emissions has been declining because it has finished its industrial transformation. It means UK has entered into era of science and technology, they do not need to spend much money on solving the CO2 pollutions, they can focus on the development of healthcare or education to improve British quality of life. In addition, the suitable environment is good for people’s health, so every year there are lots of aliens moving to UK because of the comfortable weather. For example, over 590000 immigrants moved to UK in 2010, but only 339000 British moved out UK, so there are about 252000 net migration came to UK in 2010(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15868793). It means UK’s high quality of life indeed attracted other countries’ people, also, these immigrants inevitably brought vast assets to UK, they use their...
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...1997 made the UK more democratic? Since 1997 the UK has seen many constitutional reforms; it is argued about whether or not they have made the UK more democratic, this easy will be going through a few of these reforms and explain how they have effected the UK. The word democracy means a system of government in which all the people are involved in making decisions that effect the country/state, it can further be defined as a government for the people, by the people, of the people, the people of the state can have their say through electoral votes, referendums lobbying or protests. Democracy has many aspects such as decentralisation, accountability, participation, open government and rights protection; decentralisation means the process of distributing or dispersing power away from the central government, an example of this can be seen in the Devolution Act of 1997. Accountability is the act of the government being liable for everything they do; this relates back to the rule of law which states that anybody can be taken to court if they have broken the law including the law makers themselves. Holding the government accountable means that anybody of the public can take the government to court if they have broken the law or if someone feels like an Act has been broken. Open government definitely helps democracy as it means that citizens have the right to access documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. This helps democracy as it allows...
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