1.1 Current systems of representative and direct democracy

=features of direct democracy and representative democracy =similarities and differences between direct democracy and representative democracy =advantages and disadvantages of direct democracy and rep democracy and consideration of the case for reform

Representative democracy

=voters elects reps to make political decisions on their behalf

=these reps are held accountable to the public in regular elections

Advantages of rep democracy

=gov is carried out by professional politicicans who are well informed about political issues

=so more likely to make politically educated issues than most members of the public who may be swayed by emotions and may not fully understand the complexities of a question

=in a rep democracy elected politicians balance conflicted interests when reaching decisions which is important in protecting rights of all citizens such as minorities and ensuring the implications of a decision for all members of the community have been thoroughly examined

=this balancing of benefits of the majority and negatives of the minority is a key element of a rep democracy

=comprises of the principle of accountability which means that in regular elections the voters can decide whether to renew the mandate of their reps so the public may elect another rep if they do not approve of their performance or policies e.g, Recall of MP Act 2015

Disadvantages of rep democracy

= mps rep a metropolitan elite that does not rep the more trad values of the population which means MPs can be disengaged from the public and do not adequately rep their interests

=e.g. in 2016 EU referendum 52 percent of the public voted to leave EU but 74 percent of the MPs were in favour of remaining

=powerful pressure groups,lobbyists and London based media also establish a self perpetuating Westminster ‘bubble’, which disconnects reps from the issues that are important to their constituents

=mps can have outside interests such as second jobs so long as they declare them which can contribute to a conflict of interests and possibly compromise tehir ability to fully rep their constituents

=e.g. in 2021, Owen Paterson resigned as an MP after he was criticised by the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards for lobbying on behalf of companies which employed him

=e.g. also in 2021 Sir Geoffrey Cox was criticised for earning £900,000 for legal work he undertook in addition to his MP’s salary. Although no conflict of interest was found, some suggest that it is an excessive amount to earn when primary job was to rep constituents

=Critics say Westminster is highly unrep as it is elected through FPTP and as a result duopoly which dominates at expense of minor parties even when they have polled highly

= e.g. the 2015 general election UKIP secured 3.9 million votes but only achieved one seats

=House of Lords is unelected and unaccountable to public so further undermining rep functions

=social makeup of Parliament is still white, male and middle class

Direct democracy

=form of democracy in which citizens themselves rather than political reps make political decisions

=most significant e.g. of direct democracy is a referendum

=no distinction between gov and citizen instead there is continuous engagement by the public in democratic process

Referendums as e.g. of direct democracy

Adv

=mps are insufficiently accountable to the public which is addressed by a greater use of direct democracy as people are able to make more choices 

=a pro of referendums is that they regularly are only on overly controversial issues such as brexit so there is not a democratic overload as seen in Ireland where from 2000 to 2022 there had been 19 referendums  

->the average voter turnout has only been 48.4 percent in comparison with the 67.3 percent of voter turnout in the 2019 UK gen election  

-->showing that referendums have not energised democracy 

=led to legalisation of same sex marriage in 2013 and abortion in 2018

Dis

=referendums are only called when the gov decides that the people need to legitimise an important decision such as brexit 

->only vote on issues when the gov wants them to 

->this may disengage the public 

-->e.g. according to the constitution of the Republic of Ireland any proposed constitutional change has to be endorsed by the public in a referendum  

-majoritarian form of democracy with no safeguarding of minorities’ rights 

->cautious about extending the right of referendums as they can be used in a divisive and populist fashion that could undermine rather than enhance liberal democracy 

e-petitions as e.g. of direct democracy

ADV

= enables the public to raise issues that they believe need solving.

=Scottish and Welsh assemble use online petitions to keep public engaged with their representatives. Traditionally Parliament should provide all citizens with the opportunity for redress of grievance so wrongs done to individuals ca be resolved. 

=e.g. in 2020, Marcus Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty gained over 1.1 million signatures persuading the gov to commit to free school meals during the school holidays for low income families

=important in informing and progressing public debate and several important decisions raised in 2021 such as searching upon entry in night clubs

DISADV

= more powerful if they triggered a parliamentary vote but this would provide government with too little time to fulfil the legislative programme on which they wanted to govern

=It could bog down parliament further, debating and voting upon issues that our representatives already decided on.

=e.g. 2021 online petitions demanded that work on HS2 should be stopped and that student tuition fees be reduced from 9,250 to 3,000 but don’t try to reopen issues that representatives have already legislated or decided. Even if the petition got lots of signatures, government has no obligation to do it. 

=e.g.some issues that Parliament cannot legislate like the e-petition to revoke Sir Tony Blair’s knighthood gained more than a million signatures but was rejected as monarchs bestow knighthoods

ADV of direct democracy

=engages public and make politicians more responsive to what ppl really think

=this encourages public engagement in the political process encouraging a more politically civically involved citizenry

=greater use of dd ensures reps are better informed of developing public attitudes through referendums, e-petitions and consultative exercises

DISADV of direct democracy

=referendums simplify complex qs to ‘yes/no’

=e.g. the 2016 EU referendum raised highly complex issues such as UK’s relationship with EU customs and the EU single market and the border status of Northern Ireland

=dd challenges the Burkean principle that reps should act according to their conscience not the wishes of their constituents

=e.g. Theresa May voted remain in the 2016 referendums but led a gov committed to withdrawing the EU

Participation crisis

=point a which the public becomes disengaged from politics and voting levels have fallen down so low that the legitimacy of elected govc can be q

=e.g. European gen elections have always been considerably higher than UK even though there is no compulsory voting in the UK 2019 gen election the voter turnout was 67 percent but in the 2021 Dutch general election, the voter turnout 79 percent

Democratic Deficit

=when there is so little democratic participation by the public and so little trust in political institutions that only a minority of citizens engage in politics

=consequently, elected govs can no longer claim legitimcay

The Recall of MP Act 2015

=enables voters to trigger an election if 10 percent of constituents sign a petition; however, circumstances need to be extreme such as being in jail, suspended from house of commons at least ten days etc

ADV of the Recall of MP Act

=broadening the criteria on which power of recall could be demanded to include issues connected with policy making would weaken the influence of party whips and make representatives more responsive to their constituents. For example, in the USA 19 states have policy based recall provisions. In 2003 the governor of California – Gray Davis was recalled as he failed to balance the budget.  

DISADV of the Recall of MP Act 2015

=broadening the criteria on which power of recall could be demanded to include issues connected with policy making would weaken the influence of party whips and make representatives more responsive to their constituents

=e.g. , in the USA 19 states have policy based recall provisions. In 2003 the governor of California – Gray Davis was recalled as he failed to balance the budget.