...Should referendums be more widely used in the UK? Referendums are a type of direct democracy used in Britain that involve the public directly voting on a single issue in order to make a political decision. This essay will argue that referendums shouldn’t be more widely used in the UK. Many may argue that referendums should be more widely used in the UK because they are a pure form of direct democracy originating from Ancient Greece; they allow the people to rule and make decisions for themselves. A recent example of this is the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, which allowed Scotland’s people to choose whether they wanted to remain part of the UK. However, according to the British constitution and the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, referendums cannot be binding. So, in theory, if the result of this referendum had been “yes”, David Cameron has the authority to go against it— no matter how unlikely Cameron actually doing this is. Even if the people vote with an overwhelming majority on an issue, parliament always has the authority to overrule the referendum’s result thus making them much l ess useful a tool in democracy and wider use of them much less advisable. Others might insist that higher usage of referendums would improve political participation in Britain, as is the case in California, where citizen- initiated referendums (or “propositions” as there are known in the US) are held regularly to help make political decisions...
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... 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 is this year’s Scottish Referendum. The culmination of the referendum exhibited that...
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...popularity, a popularity that has threatened the term's undoing as a meaningful political concept. In being almost universally regarded as a 'good thing', democracy has come to used as little more than a 'hurrah! word', implying approval of a particular set of ideas or system of rule. Perhaps a more helpful starting point from which to consider the nature of democracy is provided by Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered in 1864 at the height of the American Civil War. Lincoln extolled the virtues of what he called 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people'. What this makes clear is that democracy serves to link government to the people, but that this link can be forged in a number of ways - government of, by and for the people. Nevertheless, the precise nature of democratic rule has been the subject of fierce ideological and political debate. The next section will look at alternative models of democracy. For the time being, however, the terms of the democratic debate are explored. This boils down to the attempt to answer two central questions: ▪ Who are the people? ▪ In what sense should the people rule? Who are the people? One of the core features of democracy is the principle of political equality, the notion that political power should be distributed as widely and evenly as possible....
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...said by AV Dicey, the word ‘sovereignty’ is used to describe the idea of “the power of law making unrestricted by any legal limit”. Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution, stating that Parliament is the supreme legal authority in the UK, able to create and remove any law. This power over-rules courts and all other jurisdiction. It also cannot be entrenched; this is where all laws passed by the party in government can be changed by future parliaments. In recent years sovereignty of parliament has been a In 1972 the UK joined the treaty of accession, this was a statute law passed by parliament. It stated that the UK was now a part of the EU and therefore must abide by the laws and regulations that would be imposed; over 2,900 regulations and 410 directives were added, 43 volumes of the EU legislation. Due to having joined over 30 years after the initial EU was created, the UK has been made to accept laws that had been made without its input. Whereas now, having joined the EU, we are involved in in their creation - this is a key argument for why we should remain a member. Joining the EU has been agued as being a pinnacle point at which the UK lost its sovereignty, as this was the first time in the history of parliament where absolute power was no longer held. Research done by the TPA (Taxpayers Alliance) shows there are currently 16,980 EU acts in force between 1998 and 2007. In 2007, 3,010 EU laws became UK law, while only 993 EU regulations were repealed...
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...The referendum has its origins in direct democracy, and can therefore be dated back to the 5th Century BC in the Greek city state of Athens. The concept of a referendum has changed and developed in line with democracy and can now be found in a number of differing forms throughout the developed world. A referendum is broadly defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a general vote by the electorate on a single political question”; however this definition fails to make distinctions between the many types of referendum which exist, or the modern day importance of referendums. In an initial classification there are three types of referendum as defined by the Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia. Obligatory referendums; which are required by law, optional referendums; which are put on the ballot when a sufficient number of voters sign a petition demanding that a law passed by the legislature be ratified by the people, and voluntary referendums; when legislatures submit to voters to decide an issue or to test public opinion. In the majority of political systems across the world we are witnessing a worrying downward trend in voter turnout. This can be attributed to a number of causes including; partisan dealignment, disenchantment with the political system and indifference to politics. Referendums can be used to help promote political participation by enabling the electorate to become better educated and informed and therefore reduce the feeling of alienation. By providing people with...
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...authoritative, highest law of the land. Binds all political institutions – leads to 2 tier legal system ▪ Provisions of it are entrenched, difficult to amend or abolish ▪ It is judiciable, all political bodies are subject to authority of the courts, in particular a supreme court. o Uncodified – increasingly rare, UK one of few ▪ Not authoritative, constitutional laws treated same as ordinary laws ▪ Not entrenched, constitution can be changed through the normal process for enacting statute law. ▪ Not judiciable, judges do not have legal standard to declare that actions of other bodies are constitutional/not constitutional. o However: ▪ No constitution is entirely written, written documents do not encompass all aspects of constitutional practice ▪ No constitution is entirely unwritten, no constitution consisting only of rules of conduct or behaviour. • Unitary and federal o Unitary – establish constitutional supremacy of central government over provincial and local bodies. Reflected in UK via Parliament o Federal – divide sovereignty between 2 levels of government, both central and regional posses a range of powers that the other...
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...by Committee of Selection whose 7 out 9 members are ships. On the other hand, there are 11 members in the SCs and to eliminate “the conflict of interest, all the members are backbench members who are elected using the Alternative vote system. 2a What are the main functions of Parliament and how well does it perform them? [5] < This question is a 20-mark question > 3a What are the differences between direct and representative democracy? [5] In direct democracy, people are directly involved in decision-making processes, whereas in representative democracy, people elect MPs who will represent and form a government in Parliament. For instance, some qualified members of Athenian society were involved in decision-making and a referendum is a limited form of direct democracy. Also general elections are kind of parliamentary democracy, they are held every five years to election a representative and a government. There is potential danger that decision-making mechanisms can be affected by an organised faction and demagogue in direct democracy. 4a What is the role of the opposition in British politics? [5] The main role of the opposition is adversarial. The Opposition is not...
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...locations to multimillion-pound productions such as Skyfall (2012), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Sunshine on Leith (2013) and The Railway Man (2014) as well as TV productions including Game of Thrones (2011) and Outlander (2014). To what extent have Scottish films such as Braveheart and Trainspotting impacted on the tourism industry and given their contrasting portrayals of the Scots, does one hinder tourism more than the other? Can we say whether or not there is a distinct notion of ‘Scottish national identity’ and if such a concept exists to what level is it illustrated in Scottish film? Has the Scottish film industry had an impact on the political landscape in Scotland since it was devolved in 1998? Finally given the effects of Scottish film in Scotland, what has the government put in place in order to develop the industry further? Scotland has produced many world renowned films over the last two decades and has had a large impact on the creative industries in Scotland. It has long retained a certain romance which frequently appeals to both UK and global audiences, no film more so than Hollywood release Braveheart. Released in 1995 the film tells the story of Scottish hero William Wallace, a 13th century warrior who revolts against his tyrannical English overload. It has since been credited for rousing deep patriotism amongst the Scottish diaspora and those still remaining within the country. So popular was the film...
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...Pressure groups There is no significance to the order in which questions appear. Each question is divided into three sections (a), (b) and (c). When choosing which questions to do, the following principles are recommended: It is almost certain that you will be better off choosing your strongest question to do first. You should choose questions on the basis of how well you can answer the section (c) part. The (c) part carries 25 of the 40 marks available for the whole answer. Do not choose a question simply because you can do part (a) especially well. The (a) question is only worth 5 marks. It would be illogical to choose your strongest (a) part if you cannot do well on section (c). If you cannot decide between several (c) parts, i.e. you can do more than one equally well, make your choice on the basis of part (b) which carries 10 marks. But remember, it is the (c) parts that will determine most what your overall mark will be. So, when you first look at the exam paper, look at the (c) sections first. Assessment Objectives Each question is divided into three sections, as follows: carries 5 marks carries 10 marks carries 25 marks The way you answer questions should be determined by the way assessment objectives are distributed. Assessment objectives provide the basis upon which examiners award marks. You need to be familiar with them to maximise your marks. They will help direct your revision and with the answers to the questions. A full explanation of...
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...tangible signs of this transformation but other constitutional reforms are either in being or well under way …… ▪ including the Human Rights Act of 1998 (incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights), ▪ a directly-elected mayor and assembly for London, ▪ a reformed House of Lords ▪ and Freedom of Information legislation. ▪ Although reform of the electoral system for Westminster now seems a somewhat distant prospect, the 1999 elections to the Welsh Assembly, to the Scottish Parliament and to the European Parliament were all conducted using electoral systems very different from the traditional first-past-the-post method. ▪ Referendums have been widely used, and more promised o Lecture by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, to the Constitution Unit, Westminster. 8 December 1998 o No other Government this century has embarked upon so significant or wide-ranging a programme of constitutional reform as the New Labour Government. It is therefore my particular pleasure, as the member of the Cabinet entrusted with driving forward development of policy, to have been invited here to give the Annual Constitution Unit Lecture. o We came to power with specific problems identified: o a government that was over-centralised, inefficient and bureaucratic; o local government in need of...
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...GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS AS LEVEL UNIT TWO GOVERNING THE UK “Never, never, never give up” Winston S Churchill 1874-1965 1 GOVERNING THE UK 50% of AS [25% of A2] UNIT TWO SAMPLE QUESTION Answer one question from Section A and one question from Section B in 80 minutes. Spend 40 minutes on Section A and 40 minutes on Section B SECTION A QUESTION ONE PRIME MINISTERIAL POWER “For too long the big political decisions in this country have been made in the wrong place. They are not made around the Cabinet table where they should be, but they are taken on the sofa in Tony Blair’s office. No notes are kept and no one takes the blame when things go wrong. That arrogant style of government must come to an end. I will restore the proper process of government. I want to be Prime Minister of this country not a President (Source: David Cameron, The Times, 5th October 2006) “The Cabinet is the committee at the centre of the British political system. Every Thursday during Parliament, Secretaries of State from all departments as well as other ministers meet in the Cabinet Room in Downing Street to discuss the big issues of the day. The Prime Minister chairs the meeting, selects its members and also recommends their appointment as ministers to the monarch. The present Cabinet has 23 members (21 MPs and two peers). The secretary of the Cabinet is responsible for preparing records of its discussions and decisions”. (Source: From a modern textbook) (a) What...
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...well-informed accounts of the five days of intense and sometimes difficult negotiations which followed, between all three main parties, and the twists and turns which took place during that period of time, as both Labour and the Conservatives courted the Liberal Democrats.3 Second, who got what: in other words, policy and personnel. In terms of policy, as Thomas Quinn, Judith Bara and John Bartle have argued, both the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats made important gains in their respective priority areas: fairer taxes, a pupil premium, a green economy and political reform (Liberal Democrats); deficit reduction, immigration, defence and Europe 478 (Conservatives).4 In terms of personnel, according to Marc Debus, the Conservatives used their position as the strong party in the coalition game to ensure that during the process of portfolio allocation they were able to capture the most important ministries in the new...
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...Jump to navigation Search Cornell Search About LII / Get the law / Lawyer Directory / Get Legal Forms / Legal Encyclopedia / Help Out • • Wex • all pages • articles • español • Inbox Project • search • FAQ Legal systems Introduction: profusion and variety There are hundreds of legal systems in the world. At the global level, international law is of great importance, whether created by the practice of sovereign states or by agreement among them in the form of treaties and other accords. Some transnational entities such as the European Union have created their own legal structures. At the national level there are over 180 sovereign states in the United Nations Organization. Many of these are federal or confederal, and their constituent parts may well have their own law. But, despite this great variety, it is important to begin by emphasizing one great division: that into religious and secular legal systems. Each side of this split holds quite different views as to law, in its source, scope, sanctions, and function. The source of religious law is the deity, legislating through the prophets. Secular law is made by human beings, and one of its most famous examples begins with the words 'We, the people'. It follows from this difference in their source that religious laws are perceived to be eternal and immutable, while secular rules can be changed by their makers. Religious law tells people what to believe as well as how to behave, whereas secular law deals...
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...Historical background There were a number of powerful forces working for European integration after 1945. To Continental Europeans, the nation state had been discredited. This was particularly true of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, which had behaved repressively towards their citizens, not to mention the citizens of other countries. The pre-war system of independent nation states had been unable to solve the economic problems thrown up by the Great Depression. There was also the threat of Soviet expansion. In this way, there was pressure for the creation of a larger organization to promote economic prosperity by binding national economies together. If their economies were interlinked, a future war would be almost impossible. Britain did not see itself as part of Europe at this stage. The Attlee government looked to its special relationship with the United States and its Empire and Commonwealth. Then there was the need to establish a welfare state. The beginnings of European integration can be traced to the Schuman Plan of 1950. This proposed the European Coal and Steel Community. It was a French plan – Schuman was the French Foreign Minister – to place the French and German ‘industries of war’ under supranational control. The plan came into operation in 1952. The Franco-German axis remains at the core of the process of European integration. In 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed by the representatives of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Germany. This...
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...governance. More significant than these five-yearly events, however, was the long-delayed ratification and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. In June 2009, EU leaders approved a Decision ‘on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon’, which they annexed to the European Council conclusions. They also agreed that ‘at the time of the conclusion of the next accession Treaty [. . .] the provisions of the annexed Decision’ would be included ‘in a Protocol to be attached [. . .] to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union’ (Council, 2009a). The purpose of the promised Protocol was to facilitate a second referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty and to help ensure a successful outcome. The Irish government soon announced that the referendum would take place on 2 October. The prospect of a favourable result looked bright, thanks to the global economic crisis, which hit Ireland particularly hard. Although ratifying the Treaty would not make a material difference, it would send a positive signal to international investors and affirm Ireland’s good fortune to be in the euro area at a time of global financial turmoil. Armed with legally binding guarantees from the EU to allay the concerns of many who opposed the Treaty in the first referendum, and the decision by the European Council to retain one © 2010 The Author(s) Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and...
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