1. 1.4 Revision Democracy and Participation

2. Democracy and political participation – 1.1.
Homework L1
What is democracy? 2
Different types of democracy 3
How are we represented in our democracy? 4
The positive aspects of the UK’s democratic system 5
The negative aspects of the UK’s democratic system 6
Enfranchising the working classes 7
Enfranchising women 8
Further extensions to the Franchise 9
Pluralism and ways to participate 10
What is a pressure group? 11
3 Pressure Groups – a study of the methods and ideas 12
What determines the success or failure of pressure groups? 13
Other collective organisations - including Trade Unions, think tanks, lobbyists and corporations, and their influence on government and Parliament. 14
What are rights? Collective VS Individual 15
How are our rights protected? 16
How could the UK’s democracy be improved?

3. Personal Learning Checklist –UK Politics - - Democratic Participation – Component 1.3
Break down of topics:
Learnt it
Revised it
Know it 1
The features of direct democracy and representative democracy. 2
The similarities and differences between direct democracy and representative democracy. 3
Advantages and disadvantages of direct democracy and representative democracy 4
Debate on reform of the UK’s representative democracy 5
Key milestones in the widening of the franchise 6
The work of the suffragists/suffragettes 7
The work of a current movement to extend the franchise. 8
Different types of pressure groups 9
Different methods of pressure groups 10
Differing levels of impact of pressure groups. 11
Do pressure groups improve democratic representation? 12
Case Study No.1 – Sectional group (methods and levels of influence) 13
Case Study No.2 – Causal group (methods and levels of influence) 14
Other collective organisations (methods and influence) 15
History of the development of rights in the UK 16
Magna Carta, Human Rights Act 1998, Equalities Act 2010 17
What are rights? 18
Debate over rights VS responsibilities. 19
Individual VS Collective rights Debate 20
Rights Conflicts (who holds power?) 21
Evaluation of the degree to which there is a democratic deficit in the UK

4. Key Words:

5. Key words Direct democracy Representative democracy Liberal democracy
Direct democracy
Representative democracy
Liberal democracy
Majoritarian democracy
Accountability
Political Representation
Parliament as a microcosm of society
Functional representation
Causal representation
Delegates
Local councils
Devolved governments
National Government
Holyrood
Welsh National Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
Constituencies
London Assembly
City Mayors
European Parliament
Mandates
Manifestos
Political legitimacy
Elections
Pressure Groups
Sectional Pressure Groups
Causal Pressure Groups
Think tanks
Trades Unions
Lobbying
Insider Groups
Outsider groups
Celebrity endorsement
Pressure group membership

6. Suffragettes
Suffragists
1832 Great Reform Act
1918 Reform Act
Universal Suffrage
Votes for women
Formal forms of political participation
Informal forms of political participation
Trade Union Membership
Political Party Membership
Class de-alignment
Partisan De-alignment
Clickocracy
Political apathy
Voter Turnout
Third Parties
Local Councils
Local elections
General Election
MEP Elections
PCC Elections
City Mayoral Elections
Devolved governmental elections
Section
Members of Parliament
Members of the European Parliament
Local Councillors
Members of the Cabinet
Shadow cabinet
Back bench MPs

7. Exam Questions
Evaluate the extent to which pressure groups enhance democracy in the UK. In your answer you must refer to at least three pressure groups.
Evaluate the various ways in which rights are protected in the UK.
Evaluate the criticism that have been levelled against the use of referendums in the UK.
Evaluate the relative importance of different demographic factors in voting behaviour.
Evaluate the impact of turnout in determining the outcome of elections.
The UK’s representative democracy is in need of reform. TWE would you agree?
The UK should abandon representative democracy and adopt direct democracy instead. TWE do you agree?
“Representative democracy, such as used in countries like the UK, is flawed.”

8. Parliament is wholly unsuited to defend the rights of British Citizens
Parliament is wholly unsuited to defend the rights of British Citizens. How far would you agree?
Parliament has the power and has set the precedent of suspending the rights of citizens. For example, Blair suspended Habeous Corpous after the 2007 bombings Magna Carta limited the power of the monarchy and increased power of the Barons. Parliament is therefore not suited to defend the rights of normal citizens but instead itself. Parliament is difrectly elected which means that they respond to the immediate confcerns of the majority of the population. This makes them wholly unsuited to defend rights. Instead the independent judiciary is better suited. The House of Lords and the HoC are not representative of the people. Therefore they are not suited to defend our rights. The House of Lords is appointed and not elected. Therefore they are not suited to defend our rights.

9. Pressure groups educate the public about issues that might affect us.
Table to show the extent to which pressure groups are good for the UK’s democracy?
Pressure groups are good for the UK’s democracy
Pressure groups are bad for the UK’s democracy
Encourage participation – engage citizens between elections. Most have more members than the parties. 38 Degrees 2.5 million members, 5x more than any European political party.
Insider pressure groups ensure greater representation by influencing parliament. E.g. through lobbying for certain interests.
Pressure groups provide an alternative form of representation for people outside of tbe political parites system. These are often more issue based than class based. This is increasingly important.
Promote pluralism.
Pressure groups hold elected representatives to account through protest and information gathering.
Pressure groups educate the public about issues that might affect us.
Pressure Groups help organise and represent minority groups in particular.
During periods of political consensus pressure groups provide alternative voices. E.g Iraq War, Stop the War Coaltion.
PGs mobilise the public to care about issues that they would otherwise miss. E.g. RSPB
Pressure groups can adopt exteme tactics to raise the profle of their concerns. E.g. PETA
Elitist – they are an avenue for the rich and educated to increase their political power. The poor and the less well educated do not have these same opportunities.
Pressure groups are ways for big businesses to lobby and influence parliament to get legislation that suits them.
PGs are more left wing and Liberal and therefore skew the political debate to the left.
Ego-tropic – ie they focus on individualist over collectivist needs and encourage a further alienation and isolation of politics
PGs can unrealistically raise citizen’s expectations for change. When these expectations are not met citizens’ can become disillusioned. This exacerbates the problem of political apathy.
PGs work outside of the parliamentary process. Ultimately the government is held accountable through parliament and the elected representatives in it. It would be anti-democratic if the government responded to those with the loudest voices over those elected to represent all citizens.

10. What are the arguments in the source regarding a participation crisis in the Uk’s political system?
Low voter turnout represents a participation crisis in UK politics.
Decline in party membership represents a participation crisis in UK politics.
The youth do not vote as much as the old. This makes the system unrepresentative and favours the right wing.
Informal methods of political participation are increasing.
Those who do not vote do so because they are ignorant of the issues and do not care. They are therefore giving their consent to the status quo.

11. Low voter turnout represents a participation crisis in UK politics.
% voted
- Since 201 there has been a steady increase in voter turn out. Especially referendums. 84% voted in EU referendum.
Decline in party membership represents a participation crisis in UK politics.
Under 150,000 Tory members. IN 1906 there were 3 million.
Parties are increasing. Under Blair 40% more members joined the party, under Corbyn it has become the largest party in Europe with over ½ million. Nationalist parties have increased. The SNP has risen and now has more members than the Tories.
The youth do not vote as much as the old. This makes the system unrepresentative and favours the right wing.
The average age that people start to vote Tory is 44 years old.
In 2015 the olds was only 59%
The political system represents those that turn out to vote.
Young people are engaging and participating in increasingly different ways. E.g. social media, party membership Momentum
Informal methods of political participation are increasing.
Clickocracy, slacktivism, rise in PG membership, e.g. RSPB. More people protest or say that they would.
Informal methods are important but they do not determine the government and therefore they are less significant forms of participation.
Those who do not vote do so because they are ignorant of the issues and do not care. They are therefore giving their consent to the status quo.
Political apathy has increased due to the consent that people give to our political system
Political apathy has been increasing due to class and participation de-alignment. People do not know who they are and have lost a sense of collectivism due to thatcher’s individualism. Therefore we have a participation crisis in our class based political system.

12. Evaluate the extent to which pressure groups enhance democracy in the UK. In your answer you must refer to at least three pressure groups.
Evaluate the various ways in which rights are protected in the UK.
Evaluate the critisms that have been levelled against the use of referendums in the UK.
Evaluate the relative importance of different demographic factors in voting behaviour.
Evaluate the impact of turnout in deterimining the outcome of elections.
Evaluate the view that Democracy in the UK is suffering from a participation crisis.
Evaluate how far the UK system of representative democracy remains in need of improvement.
Analyse and evaluate the factors that determine the success of pressure groups in the UK.
TWE would you agree that pressure groups improve representative democracy?
‘Judges, rather than politicians, are better able to protect and defend rights in the UK.’ Analyse and evaluate this statement.

14. The UK is suffering from a crisis of participation:
Agree:
The UK is suffering from a crisis of participation as people vote less today thank in the past.
Since 1979 only two elections have enjoyed more than 75% of the electorate voting.
15 million non-voters. More than voted for the government.
Democratic deficit – the UK’s political system is not truly democratic or representative and this discourages participation. E.g. problems with FPTP, safe seats, gerrymandering,
Traditional forms of political participation in the work place are experiencing a crisis of participation. E.g. fall in TU membership peaked at over 13 million in 1978 and is now below 7 million. The destruction of well paid and secure jobs and the rise of the gig economy is exacerbating this trend.
Elitism – political participation is increasingly the premise of the rich, old and powerful. The
Voting is increasingly only representative of the elderly. In the 2016 election all parties promised to ensure the triple lock on pensions.
Electoral Mandate –
Disagree:
Numbers of people joining parties has not fallen. The Labour Party is now the largest mass membership party in western Europe.
People in the UK participate in politics in new and different ways.
Emergence of hyper-pluralism –
There has been a rise of political participation in the virtual world. Clickocracy and e-democracy. 38 Degrees have run very successful on line petitions with millions signing.
Increased role of pressure groups
Despite reduced % of people who vote there has been a steady increase since In % of the population voted. In 2017 this tose to 68.7%. Some elections have huge turn outs. E.g. Scottish referendum achieved 84.6%. Whilst it is true that numbers of voters have been declining the British vote more than the French or the Americasn.

15. Evaluate and analyse the extent to which the UK is suffering from a participation crisis
Introduction:
P: The UK is suffering from a participation crisis because voter turnout has declined.
E: 1950s turn out was over 80%. Since the 1980s this has declined. Reaching a low ion 2001 with 59%. In some referendmums turnout has been very low, E.g North Eastern Devolved government referendum was 40%. Turnout for Police and Crime Commissioners is sometimes as low as 12% E:
P: The UK is NOT suffering from a participation crisis because voter turnout has been increasing since 2001 and participation in referendums is often high.
P: The UK is suffering from a participation crisis because there is declining membership of parties.
E: In 1945 Labour had 1 million members. Tories had 2.8 million. Today the Conservatives have under 150,000 members (they no longer publish the number of their members). The SNP is now the second largest UK political party. Class de-alignment has led to partisan de-alignment and a collapse in participation.
P: The UK is NOT suffering from a participation crisis because there has been a rise in Pressure Group membership.
P: The UK is suffering from a participation crisis because there si declining membership of trades Unions.
E: Trade Union membership today is 7 million people. IT has declined since its peak at 13 million in 1970s.
P: The UK is NOT suffering from a participation crisis because of the rise of electronic forms of participation.
E: Clickocracy, slactivism,
In conclusion…