In what ways, if at all, might it be said that democracy ensures power by the people, for the people?

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Power and Decision-Making in Britain.

In what ways, if at all, might it be said that democracy ensures power by the people, for the people?

Rachael Fowler-251152

The word 'Democracy' derives from the ancient Greek words 'demos' and 'kratos' with a modern translation of rule by the people. Democracy as a word and concept is often contested in today's day and age as Bernard Crick states 'Democracy is perhaps the most promiscuous word in the world of public affairs' (Crick, 1962). Robertson also argues quite similarly stating that ' Democracy is the most valued and also the vaguest of political terms in the modern world.'(Robertson,1986). Due to the early Greek writings 5th century Athenians formed a 'direct' form of democracy where every citizen was given the right to vote. It was this form of democracy that inspired the democracy that we have come to adopt in Western Europe .But who truly exercises power in the UK is democracy that 'ensures power by the people, for the people' or does democracy ensure power to the elites?

A pluralist view of democracy derives from a classic liberal way of thinking and is often called liberal democracy. Pluralism is the belief 'in diversity or choice, or the theory that political power should be widely and evenly dispersed.'(Heywood,1998)

The pluralist model power is truly ' by the people for the people' as power is exercised through the mass population rather than a small elite. The ideals of a pluralist democracy include the ideas that the electorate is accountable to the elector, governmental institutions are accessible to groups and 'there is a wide dispersal of power among competing groups'. (Heywood, 2002). Therefore if electorates as a majority do not like what their representatives are doing they can vote against them, meaning that a representative's actions has to benefit the majority of the electorate. However critics of pluralist democracy argue that although a representative should act on behalf of his representatives however a representative also has party affiliations and must also act on behalf of his political party. This highlights the fact that representatives aren't actually 100% accountable to the electorate so they don't always act with their electorates best interests in mind. A pluralist democracy is a form of democracy that 'operates through the capacity of organised groups and interests to articulate popular demands and ensure government responsiveness.'(Heywood,2002). This means that people are able to ensure their power through interest groups such as trade unions and pressure groups, pressure groups are one of they main groups that ensure this.
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Pressure groups are free from political affiliations like representatives, again they ensure that power is ensured ' by the people for the people', a main foundation for democracy. Pressure groups are essential to an effective to a functioning democracy as they assist with the dispersal of power. Pluralists believe that pressure groups are the answer to the democratic deficit which continues to build as most people's political participation is casting a vote every five years, this shows that people have little or no influence over the decisions made by the representatives. Pluralists argue that pressure groups increase participation ...

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