Politics - Democracy in the UK.

Authors Avatar

Shazib Bin Zaman                                  Politics                                          Paul Cordey

POLITICS - DEMOCRACY IN THE UK

A) Define Direct Democracy.

Direct democracy comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics where all citizens can directly participate in the decision-making process.

Direct democracy in its traditional form is rule by the people through referenda. The people are given the right to pass laws, veto laws and withdraw support from a representative at any time. In the United States when specific direct democracy issues, other than the election of representatives, reach a local- or state-level ballot, they are commonly referred to by local and state governments as "ballot questions" or "ballot measures".

B) Explain the main features of indirect democracy.

Indirect democracy is when elected representatives act behalf on the people who have chosen them.

The most common system found in today's democracies is the representative democracy. The people elect government officials who then make decisions on their behalf. Essentially, a representative democracy is a form of indirect democracy in which representatives are democratically selected, and usually difficult to recall.

Join now!

Indirect democracy is more effective given the size of society. Therefore it is impossible (currently) to take into considerations the views of all members of society on all decisions.

Once the representative is chosen he is given a certain amount of time to do his or her job, in the UK this is 5 years although the PM can choose to call elections at anytime. There is a peaceful transition of power which goes to show that the system is a peaceful one.

Indirect democracy relieves the “ordinary” citizen of decision making and leaves it to the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay