...We Live in a Democracy; What is Non-Democracy Like? Our great nation practices what is known around the world as a democratic system of government. That is a government intended to be for the people and run by the people; or in our case, by our elected officials; which are intended to act on our behalf. One question that comes to mind though; what else is out there and, what is it like? For a look at what might be considered the polar opposite of democracy let us look through the window of what government and law are like in the communist state of North Korea (more recent review of the Constitution of North Korea leads scholars to believe it is more of a racialist nationalism government system) (“Top 10 non-democratic countries in the world,” April 28, 2014). However, since this is only an opinion, the North Korean government is still considered that of a communist state. What are laws like in North Korea? What is the purpose of the laws and what is the effect? Do they compare to our laws? This writing would not be complete without some preface information regarding how the North Korean government works. At the head of every part of the Government is the “Great Leader” (Yop, H.J., N.D.); which would be the Supreme Leader (at this time it is Kim Jong-un). Essentially all things in North Korea revolve around the desires of Kim Jong-un. While there are different committees and bureaus; there power is limited to what commands are given to them from the top. Party secretaries...
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...The ‘American democracy’ is not a pure representation of democracy. Such a consideration is enhanced by the adoption of democratic-republic that is associated with the platform of liberation, equality, and commends definition of the democracy from the US Constitution. America’s federal government provides a salient feature in the political system. In such a move, the ‘American democracy’ is constitutional republic making it different compared to that of other developed nations. The mainstream US government has certain exclusive powers applicable to all citizens, like the establishment of army, printing currency. The integration of power among the President, Congress, and the judiciary enables the American political system to operate like the federal constitutional...
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...but a necessary evil". This concept links nicely with the idea of democracy, which literally means "rule by people". Liberals have defended democracy on the grounds that people must have a way of protecting themselves against the government and its actions. This type of democracy is also referred to as protective democracy. Moreover, democracy opens an ability for people to choose. In a pure democracy, for instance, people would vote on every occasion and policy, hence the core liberal idea of individualism would flourish in its fullest. However, in modern society it is practically impossible to have pure democracy, so we have to resort to participatory democracy. This still support the idea of individualism, as each vote counts towards the end result. Moreover, democracy improves political participation as people know that their voices will be heard. It also encourages political education in order to make the best choice of the candidate, which links with the idea of reason and the core period in liberalism's history of enlightenment. By being rational and self-seeking, individuals will want the best for themselves, hence they will seek to vote for the candidate that suits their needs and beliefs best, In order to do so, they will have to read, debate or learn about them by other means, which will increase the overall intelligence of individuals and therefore help them achieve their full potential, which is what modern liberals believe is the main function of the government. ...
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...To what extent do referendums strengthen democracy in the UK? Democracy is defined in Greek as government by the people. Referendums are undermining of the authority given to the people through a representative. The use of referendums in the UK allows for an increased participation from the electorate. This encourages direct democracy and therefore strengthens the basic principle of a democratic governing body. However, participation is a key part of the strengthening of democracy. In recent years we have seen a growth in the number of referendums held in the UK. Referendums are usually held to conclude on an important issue, such as devolution and issues regarding the changing of a constitutional law. It has become increasingly problematic that there has been a decline in the turn-out for referendums, a clear example of this is the Welsh national; assembly referendum held in 2011. The turnout for the Welsh national assembly referendum was 33%, with a 65% voting in favour of further devolved powers for the assembly. Although the vote was a majority decision 67% of the electorate did not vote, which undermines the result and therefore democracy is weakened without active participation by the electorate. As mentioned, the Welsh assembly referendum resulted in 67% of the electorate not voting, which means that these individuals will still get a devolved set of powers. Therefore unless you have a 100% turnout a referendum will forever be undemocratic. This can be described...
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...To what extent do liberals support democracy (45 marks) Democracy is the ultimate political form of ideological liberalism. It refers to the ideal form of state, and is common to both classical and modern liberals. In the 19th century, liberals often saw democracy as threatening or dangerous. Political theorists such as Plato and Aristotle viewed democracy as being a system of rule at the expense of wisdom and property. The principle that the will of the majority should prevail over the minority may have negative effects. In Northern Ireland, a very divided religious country, if the 51% get their way, the other 49% will be in outrage. Democracy thus comes down to the rule of the 51%, as French politician Alexis De Tocqueville described it, ‘tyranny of the masses’. Individual and minority can be crushed in the name of the people. Another reason why liberals are wary of democracy is it gives a voice to the uneducated, ignorant and property less. Robert Lowe saw democracy as a potential threat. Linking rationality with education, he wanted to restrict democratic rights to those qualified to use them. This echoes the views of J.S Mills who believed political wisdom was unequally distributed, and so educated people should get more votes. Examples of this was in the UK when up until 1948 certain ‘educated’ people were allowed more than one vote. The Spanish social thinker Ortega y Gass in his book ‘The revolt of the Masses’ warned that the arrival of mass democracy had led...
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...To What Extent do Pressure Groups Undermine Democracy A pressure group in a group that doesn’t hold candidates for election into parliament but still aim to influence legislation passed by government that takes their aims and objectives into consideration. It can be argued that Pressure groups are undemocratic due to the leaders and all members being unelected. However pressure groups have higher and ever increasing participation levels than political parties, meaning that membership to a pressure group may be the contemporary method of being involved in politics. It can be argued that Pressure Groups are a positive thing for democracy because of the extent to which they inform the public on important issues through their campaigning for members or signatures, having the public more informed and knowledgeable on issues such as climate change or immigration is beneficial due to the fact that they will understand parties policies better and be more confident in who they vote for. On the other hand Pressure Groups can be criticised due to them only informing the public of their biased, one-sided opinion which could be viewed as misinformation. Cause/promotional groups that are involved in issues such as climate change or wildlife preservation can be viewed as democratic because their objective aren’t solely for the benefit of its own members but also the wider community. Though this is democratic, some pressure groups such as financial groups would be better funded and have...
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...To what extent do pressure groups undermine democracy? Pressure groups can play an important part in the way policies and proposals are brought into action in the UK government. As well as providing a vehicle for the peoples’ views they also have the potential to undermine the democracy of a government. Firstly, to clarify the definition of a pressure group, it is a formal or informal association whose purpose is to put forward the views and interests of a specific part of society, typically operating on a small range of issues. They aim to influence the decisions made by government. Secondly, democracy (from dēmos kratos - Greek for rule by the people) can take many different forms and is harder to define. Full democracy is understood as the fair representation in government of all citizens. In a democratic government the people vote in order to represent their views on an issue. Pressure groups have been seen to undermine this system of government in many ways but the also can enhance democracy in many ways. Some aspects of pressure groups are considered to undermine the nature of democracy. Disproportionate influence is an issue that many argue subverts democracy. This is where some pressure groups have more political influence than their issue may warrant. Some sectional groups appear to have a larger influence in government than others with a larger demographic. This is considered to be undemocratic, as it is not fair in the way it represents the people disproportionately...
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...mostly the middle-class who took to the streets of Tegucigalpa in support of the coup. Similarly, in China, the rise of the middle class may thwart any further moves towards democratization, as the urban elite fear a loss in status if a rural, peasantry majority ruled politics. Why might an urban middle-class in a developing country turn against majority rule, despite social scientists arguing that this class is the precursor of democracy?...
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...Liberals have justified democracy as they believe they must have a means of protecting themselves from the intervention of government. This is sometimes seen as protective democracy, and it, for example, allows tax-payers to protect their property by controlling the composition of the tax-making body – hence the principle of ‘no taxation without representation’. Utilitarians have also linked democracy to the ability of individuals to advance or defend their interests, meaning that political democracy promotes ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’. Democracy has also been endorsed on the grounds that political participation has educational advantages. By participating in political life, citizens enhance their understanding, strengthen their sensibilities and achieve a higher level of personal development. This is sometimes called developmental democracy. Mill believed in individuality and fulfilling potential. A more modern liberal defence of democracy draws on pluralist ideas in arguing that democracy is the best means of maintaining equilibrium within complex and fluid modern societies. As democracy gives competing groups a political voice, it binds them to the political system and so maintains political stability. Democracy is rule by the people. Its ‘liberal’ features are reflected in a network of internal and external checks on government in order to protect citizens against the state and guarantee liberty. Therefore, democracy in most of the western countries...
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...To what extent do Pressure Groups promote pluralist democracy? A Pressure Group is an organised group that does not put up candidates for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. The aim of all PGs is to influence the people who actually have the power to make decisions. There are many different types of PGs such as, Sectional which usually represent limited, specific interests. They usually aim to improve conditions for their members. Another type of PG is an Outsider group, these groups tend to be outside of policy making and government tends to regard these groups as less important. Pluralist democracy is a particular type of democracy, which operates with numerous organised groups who all have some political leverage in the decision making forum. Pressure groups improve the quality of government. Discussion with affected groups is the sensible way to make decisions in a free society. It makes government more efficient by enhancing the quality of the decision making process. The information and advice provided by groups helps to improve the quality of government policy and legislation. Pressure groups assist the scrutiny of the government by exposing information it would rather keep secret, thereby strengthening and complementing work of opposition through political parties. Pressure groups thereby improve the accountability of decision makers to voters. Although few people would deny that pressure groups play an important role in British...
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...What does Representative Democracy really mean in the United States? by Christian Gallardo Democracy has been traditionally defined as government by the people. However, here in the U.S. we know by democracy, what is known as representative democracy. In this model, the people transfer, through voting, their sovereignty to some “Representatives”. This model has been used over time to justify the exercises power of a social minority over the majority. To do this, they use legislative and presidential model, which uses the franchise as a way to assume the representation of the people, monopolizing the form of politics. The U.S. Constitution is clear about its political system, which is based on the representation and not in citizen participation. The important decisions are made by a very small group of people who are not accountable for what they do, so the people cannot do anything at the end against them as we are going to explain in this paper work. If we analyze the case of Wall Street in 2009 we realize that society has no way to reclaim their “Representatives" by act or omission errors they have committed. Nothing could be done to prevent the disgraced tycoon Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff through his investment firm that bears his name, swindled the American people the amount of US$ 50,000 million dollars. There was no law to protect the common citizen desires of unscrupulous businessmen on Wall Street. And though Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison...
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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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...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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...A parliamentary democracy is a system in which the government is decided by the electorate who vote for who they want to represent them and their interest. With this definition in mind, Germany, arguable, had the features of a parliamentary democracy due to suffrage for all males over the age of 25, as well as a large and active trade union movement when compared to that of other European countries at the time. Additionally, the constitution did grant powers (although limited) to the legislative body of the Reichstag and Bundesrat which satisfies the basic expectations of a parliamentary democracy. However, although the constitution of the day had democratic elements, Bismarck was cautious in preserving the power of the elite. As a result, the constitutional powers of the Kaiser meant that he maintained sovereignty and in fact, Germany could arguably have been an entrenched autocracy during the years of 1900-1914. Without doubt, the system of universal suffrage is significant support for parliamentary democracy in Germany during these years. The access to voting for all men over 25 regardless of their social class was a big development and certainly democratic when compared to the limited suffrage of other nations at the time. Evidently, political parties were encouraged to appeal to wider groups in society rather than just the wealthy; The Social Democratic Party, who represented the working class, was able to win majority seats in the Reichstag in the 1912 election. This shows...
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