Direct Democracy

Representative Democracy

- Voters elect politicians to make decisions on their behalf.

- Voters ultimately retain sovereignty because they decide whether or not to renew the mandate of their representatives.

Advantages of RD

- Practicality : there are so many complicated political decisions that need to be made in a modern democracy that it would be inconceivable for the public to have the time and understanding to vote on all of them.

- Expertise : Professional politicians who are required to be well informed about political issues. They will also balance representation of people and party.

- Protects the rights of minorities from tyranny of the majority.

- Protects principle of accountability : there is a scapegoat for bad results and if you do not approve you remove their mandate by not voting for them.

Disadvantages of RD

- MP's are disengaged from public affairs because of the Westminster bubble.

- Conflicts of interests, e.g. George Osborne becoming editor of the evening standard.

- Unrepresentative because of FPTP.

- Unrepresentative in terms of diversity

Lords --> undermine the principle of representative democracy.