Assess the advantages of direct and representative democracy

The first 200 words of this essay...

Assess the advantages of direct democracy

There are four main "benefits" of direct democracy, but are they really beneficial to the people who live in it?

The first benefit is that there is no separate political class from the people - they are the ones making the laws they live under. The people act as a collective to create their own economic and social conditions. I see this as beneficial as it reduces dependence on professional politicians who can easily end up distorting public opinion, but there are still some issues with this so called benefit. A government without experts in various fields surely is not best placed to act in the public interest whereas professional politicians have a better education and expertise in crucial areas than the masses. Personally I'd be willing to accept a gulf between the people and the government in order to have highly trained individuals who work solely in politics rather than have the public try and balance their everyday lives and jobs with constant political participation.

As well as being good for society, it also greatly aids individual development, leading to a vastly more politically aware society as a whole