democracy and participation

Representative democracy

Voters elect representatives to make political decisions of their behalf. These representatives are then held accountable to the public in regular elections

Argument for representative democracy:

Complicated political decisions in modern democracy - the public don’t have the time and understanding to vote on all of them - it is the job of professional politicians to make informed decisions in the interest of the nation

How do elected politicians should represent the interests of constituents?

MPs spend time in constituencies listening to the concerns of the people in surgeries

Main advantage of representative democracy:

Govt is carried out by professional politicians - well informed on political issues - more politically educated then the public - less likely to be swayed by emotion

Balance of conflicting interests

Protecting the rights of all citizens - ensuring the implications of a decision for all members of constituency have been examined - controversial issues parliament balances benefits for the majority with negative impact on the minority

Principle of accountability

In regular elections the voters can decide whether to renew the mandate of their representatives

Criticism of representative democracy in the UK

MPs represent a metropolitan elite and doesn’t represent traditional values - MPs can disengage from the public and don’t represent their interests - 2016 EU referendum, 52% of the public voted to leave - 74% of MPs voted remain

Lobbyist

Represents the interests of a particular group or cause and seeks to influence politicians in its favour

Westminster bubble

Pressure groups, lobbyists and london based media disconnects representatives from the issues important to their constituents

MPs can have outside interests

Declared second jobs - further contribute to a conflict of interests and compromise their representative function

Owen Paterson 2021

Resigned as an MP after he was criticised by the commissioner for parliamentary standards for lobbying on behalf of companies that paid.

Sir Geoffrey Cox 2021

Former attorney general - criticised for earning £900k for legal work in addition to his MP salary - no conflict of interest - excessive amount to earn when man job was representing constituents

Westminster is unrepresentative because of FPTP

Conservative and labour dominate the HoC - minor parties struggle to gain appropriate representation despite polling high

HoL is unelected so unaccountable to the public - white, middle class, male

Most diverse HoC

2024 14% of MPs were from ethnic minority backgrounds - 66 labour 15 conservative - 40% are women - 20% from oxbridge - 8% lgbt

Direct democracy

Citizens represent themselves, rather than their representatives, make their own political decisions. I.e referendum