Evaluate the notion that the UK is a truly democratic nation

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Evaluate the notion that the UK is a truly democratic nation

B.Pringle

The UK is a democratic nation when the term 'democracy' is used loosely.  Citizens of the UK over the age of 18 can vote for whom they would like to represent them in government.  However, when the realities of representation, electoral procedures and parliamentary structures are analysed, the extent to which the UK is truly democratic is questioned.

In the UK we elect politicians to represent our interests.  This in itself could be seen as undemocratic - we are not picking a delegate but someone who will act of his or her own accord.  We are giving another person the right to make decisions on our behalf; we are not personally having any say in the decisions of government.

One could argue that there should be more referendums on heavily debated issues, such as foxhunting or gay child adoption, in order to ensure the nation is largely on side with the eventual decision passed by parliament.  This, however, would be a step towards 'direct representation', which is arguably a slower and less effective form of representation.

The UK's form of representation is an efficient way to implement what is essentially democracy.  There are of course ways in which we could make it more democratic but this would probably come at the cost of efficiency of government.

When discussing whether or not the UK's type of representation is truly democratic, one has to analyse whether or not the UK's way of electing our representatives is truly democratic.  The UK use the 'First - Past - The - Post' electoral system which nearly always produces a majority government.  This is beneficial as it allows government to push through policy, which they outlined in their manifesto relatively easily - it also allows the public to hold a single party accountable, if their government fails to deliver.  

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Although this system is largely popular in the UK it is far from being a fine example of democracy.  The UK's electoral system is based on the notion that one votes for a particular candidate to represent the area which one lives in.  However, due to the dominance of political parties in the UK, one can only vote for a single candidate from a particular party; this stops the people in a given constituency being able to express preference between candidates within a given party.  This can also prevent the political promotion of women and ethnic minorities within a constituency, ...

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