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How democratic is the UK? - Coggle Diagram
How democratic is the UK?
Parliament
What is Parliament?
The main functions of Parliament are making laws, scrutinising the government, debating political issues, checking government spending and taxation, and representing the citizens of the UK.
What are the different Houses in Parliament?
There is the House of Commons. In the House of Commons, there are 650 elected MP's. The Common is the chamber where the people are elected into it. The Party in the Commons with the most MP's normally form the government. The MP's inside the House of Commons debate proposed laws and the political issues of the UK. They scrutinise Prime Ministers' and governmental decisions. The House of Commons has quite a crucial role in approving taxation and government spending.
There ia also the House of Lords. It is an unelected chamber, with over 700 members. Most are there for life, who are appointed rather than elected. The people of the Lords scrutinise legislation and the work of the government. The Lords can suggest amendment to Bills and they debate legislation. The Lords therefore act as an additional check on top of the elected representatives of the Commons.
How is the House of Lords important to democracy in the UK?
Arguments for include that it provides additional scutiny of laws. Members of the Lords can also have speclialist knowledge and experience. It can challenge the government and Commons. It also provides another check on the amount of political power certain parts of the government hold.
Arguments against the Lords include that members are not elected by the public. As a result, there is a democratic argument that the people of the Lords should or should not have legislative power. This is extremely relevant as well, as it is actually Parliament that makes the laws that affect the population.
Referendums
What is a referendum?
A referendum is a direct vote by citizens on a specific political question.
How do referendums work?
A referendum can't just happen whenever the government decides that they would like one. UK Parliament must pass legislation providing for the referendum. The legilation really establishes the question, who can vote and the rules that govern the referendum. Voters then vote on the wuestion, normally choosing between given options by the government. At the end, the votes are counted, and the results of the referendum are announced.
What are the advantages of referendums?
They can give citizens a direct say on an important political question. It can let the public make a decision rather than fully leaving it to elected representatives to make it on their behalf. It can increase political participation, therefore increasing voter turnout as a result. It can also give a decision greater legitimacy when the turnout is high, as the decision was directly dependent on what the citizens said.
What are the criticisms of referendums?
Some critiques of referendums include the fact that complex issues may be completely reduced to a yes/no answer. Voters may base their opinion and vote on unrelated reasoning to the actual question. Campaigns for certain decisions can have misleeading claims, or emotional arguements behind them. The majority can override an extremely high minority, leaving the decision of up to 49.9% unhappy. Referendums are not held reguarly at all, and are not a permanent feature of UK democracy. Therefore, as a result of this, there can be disagreements over whether referendum results should be regally binding or politically advisory.
Elections
What are elections?
The UK is divided into 650 consitutencies, with one MP elected for each constituency. Elections are a way for citizens to choose representatives to make decisions on their behalf. In a UK general election, voters can elect MP's to the House of Commons. Therefore, elections provide participation and representation of the people, which are key features of a democracy.
General Elections
A Parliament can last only for 5 years as the maximum. However, an election can be held earlier. The most recent general election was helf on 4 July, 2024. In a general election, all 650 MP's are elected.
How does voting work in General Elections?
The UK General Election uses First Past The Post (FPTP). Each constituency has several candidates. The UK is divided into 650 constituencies, and voters within a constituency get one vote for one candidate. The votes are counted, and the candidate with the most votes wins the constituency, and becomes the MP for that constituency.
How are candidates chosen in elections?
The party officially selects a cadidate to contest a certain constituency. Most candidates represent a political party. Each political party has its own process for selecting candidates. Independent candidates can also stand in elections without representing a political party.
What are the strengths of democracy in elections?
There is universal participation for eligible voters, and citizens can directly have a say in their MP. There are also regular elections to remove representatives of constituencies. There is a secret ballot to protect voters from intimidation. Because of the constituency representation, it means that every part of the UK has an MP. And it also holds the government to account because they can be removed at elections.
What are the critiques behind democracy in elections?
The FPTP system can produce disproportionate results. Cotes for losing candiadtes to not contribute to electing an MP in that constituency. Smaller parties can win a significant amount of votes, and have a very small amount of seats as a result. A political party can form a government with less than 50% of votes. Voters do not directly elect the Prime Minister of the country, the MP's do.
Pressure Groups
What is a pressure group?
A pressure group is an organisation that tries to influence government policy or political decisions without seeking to form the government itself. This is also the key difference between a political party and a pressure group.
What are the 4 types of pressure groups?
Sectional groups, or interest groups. These represent the interests of a particular group within society. For example, the Muslim Council of Britain represents the interests of British Muslims in Britain. They lobby government on behalf of these clearly defined social groups.
Cause groups, or promotional groups. These types of pressure groups promote a particular issue. Pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and Liberty, who campaign on behalf of civil liberties in the UK, are cause groups because their members are united by their shares interest in a specific cause. Members of these groups can be drawn from across different societies.
Insider Pressure Groups. These groups have privileged access to governmental decision making. This is because they have expert knowledge, and the ogvernment therefore trusts them as a result. These groups include the British Medical Association who represent doctors from all over the UK, and they possess specialist information that the government will want to consult.
Outsider Pressure Groups. These groups are groups that do not possess access to governmental decision making. They may also be unprepared to try and work within existing political groups. A good example of an outsider pressure group is the Extinction Rebellion pressure group, who have carried out several high-profile proests in order to try and achieve public recognition.
What are the arguments for/against how pressure groups can help/harm democracy?
They can strengthen democracy because it gives citizens another way to participate besides voting. It allows minority interests to be represented. It allows people to influence policy between different election periods. It can raise awareness for political issues that certain parties might ignore. And most imporantly, it gives citizens more opportunities to make their views heard.
They can weaken democracy because some groups have more money and resources than other groups. There are people within certain groups that may have greater access to influential politicians. Insider groups can have privileged access that other pressure groups cannot have. Not every single citizen has the equal ability to organise a pressure group or lobby the government. And as a result of all of this, it can create unequal political influence.