Social 30: Unit 2

Includes: liberalism, types of democracy, challenges to democracy, & holding government officials accountable.

what is a direct democracy?

what is a direct democracy?

• there is a direct line/connection between the people and the government

• people → government

• sovereignty resides with the people, who exercise supreme political powers

• citizens vote on every single issue

what are the advantages and disadvantages of a direct democracy?

advantage: people’s voices are being heard with no confusion

disadvantages:  takes a lot of time, lots of money, very inefficient

what is a representative democracy?

• people vote/elect someone to present their views and concerns in the government

• people → representative → government

what are the advantages and disadvantages of a representative democracy?

advantage: far more efficient

disadvantages: the people that represent the general population do not accurately represent their voices

what are the ten challenges of a democracy?

voter apathy, tyranny of the majority, tyranny of the minority, efficiency, lobby groups, bureaucracy, pork barreling, gerrymandering, filibustering, and polls

what is voter apathy?

when citizens feel like their voices are not being heard, they stop caring, and once they stop caring, they stop voting

how does voter apathy relate to voter turnout?

• voter turnout is the participation rate, often defined as those who cast a ballot

• historically, voter turnout has decreased across north america (canada + america)

• results are not an actual representation of what the people wanted

provide some quantitive evidence of lower voter turnouts

• federal elections have 65-70% voter turnout

• provincial elections have 50–55% voter turnout

• municipal elections have 30-35% voter turnout

what are mandatory voting laws?

• australia and other countries have come up with a solution to voter apathy that includes mandatory voting laws

• people are fined if they do not vote

• in spite of problems and criticisms, the mandatory voting laws have been very successful with a 90% voter turnout

what are some criticisms of mandatory voting laws?

• critics say mandatory voting laws leads to spoiled ballots and/or donkey votes

• a spoilt ballot is a ballot that has been marked incorrectly (accidentally or for deliberate reasons) and is not counted by election officials

• in electoral systems which use ranked voting, a donkey vote is a cast ballot where the voter ranks the candidates based on the order they appear on the ballot itself

what is tyranny of the majority?

historically it has been shown that the general will has not always been inherently good. the general will has led to tyranny of the majority with the majority 50% + 1, imposing their views and values on the minority

provide an example of tyranny of the majority

ex. john a. macdonald and residential schools in canada

• he was continuously voted in due to the tyranny of the majority (as he started residentials schools) which reflected the white population’s continued support for residential schools

ex. jim crow laws in the us

• segregations laws through which white people were imposing their views on black people

what is tyranny of the minority?

a system in which a particularly extreme and motivated fraction of the populace can wield outsized power in the face of a majority which is either too indifferent or too scared to oppose it

provide an example to tyranny of the minority

ex. apartheid laws in south africa

• the white minority imposing their views on the africans through a policy of segregation

• institutionalization of political, social, and economic, and racial discrimination, and dominance by white people over the non-white majority

• africans did not have the right to vote, could not run for government, etc.

how efficient is a democracy?

democracies are very inefficient. things are done slowly and they take time

the right to strike and the right to protest (dissent) make democracies inefficient

what is the most efficient form of government?

a dictatorship is the most efficient form of government. things get done and they get done quickly

dictatorships also take away workers’ right to strike, making it more efficient than a democracy

what are lobby groups and what do they do?

• lobby/interest groups make the government aware of the group’s position on a specific issue

• active in the political process and get their voices heard (opposite of voter apathy)

what are ways lobbyist can influence an election?

they can legally donate money and gifts to a politician’s campaign

if the politicians don’t take the money or vote like the lobby group wanted them too, the lobby group ensures the politician doesn’t get voted in next election

list some pros of having lobby groups

• democracy in action

• lobby groups are people politically engaged and active that are getting their voices heard

• anyone can form and/or join a lobby group

list some cons of having lobby groups

• lobby groups lead to corruption

• leads to tyranny of the minority with the rich and powerful imposing their values and views on the majority

who are bureaucrats?

bureaucrats are people who work for the government who are known as civil servant

what was the complaint about bureaucrats and how was it solved?

• some people claim that government is growing too much and therefore wasting taxpayers money

• to hold bureaucrats account, the ombudsman was created

• ombudsman is a neutral third party that investigates complaints about bureaucrats

what is pork barreling?

• any reference to pigs means purposely wasting taxpayers money

• money is used to buy things that weren’t really needed

•this is done to make feel obligated to vote for them in the next election

• looking for swing voters (if one sees the government investing their district, the people might vote to vote for that specific politician to keep the money coming into that specific area

what is gerrymandering?

h• in theory, each government official should represent the same amount of people

• districts are divided by representation by population

• every so often, the borders of districts need to be redrawn to better reflect changes in population

• however, borders are sometimes redrawn to guarantee a win for a certain party in the next election

what is filibustering?

• in legislature where laws are passed, it is simply done by vote

• if the government has a majority of the vote, it guarantees the passage of law

• however, all members of the legislature are allowed to speak about the law and if the opposition wants, can delay the passage of law by merely standing up and talking endlessly

• draws the media’s and the general population’s attention to the law

• is a last grasp at rejecting the bill

what are polls?

• random samples of the population

• it is done over phone where a series of questions are asked

• allows for a general idea of what the population is thinking

why is the problem with polls?

polls are notoriously inaccurate and government decisions are based on these inaccurate results

what are ways government officials can be held accountable?

voting/suffrage/franchise, recall/removal from office, referendums/plebiscites, inquires/investigations/royal commissions, and media.

define suffrage and franchise

suffrage and franchise both mean the right to vote in political elections

how is voting utilized?

when government officials do something the people do not like, the people simply vote for someone else in the next election

provide the history of suffrage

• during the time of the french revolution, voting was not universal and was limited to white males who owned land

• next, white males who did not own property were allowed to vote (ex. factory workers in the 1860s)

• until world war one, it was believed the men would vote for both the man and the women

• during world war 1 from 1914-1918, women played a key role in the factories and wanted a say in the government too

• following the end of world war 1, the suffragette grew and by the 1920s, women earned their right to vote creating an expansion of the franchise

what is important about voting?

when a group of people has the right to vote and they exercise that right, their livelihood improves

who is a suffragette?

a suffragette is a woman seeking the right to vote through organized protest