The basic concepts of a Liberal Democratic Theory of the State by describing the following features; Consent, Limited Government, Representation and Pluralism.

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Martin MacInnes POLITICS OUTCOME 2

This essay will outline the basic concepts of a Liberal Democratic Theory of the State by describing the following features; Consent, Limited Government, Representation and Pluralism.

Liberalists believe that everybody is free and equal and has the same rights and choices as anyone else. This is best summed up in the Constitution of the U.S.A., which states "all men are created equal". In a modern Liberal democracy people enter in to a contract with those who govern them for a fixed period of time. In the U.K. this is set at 5 years although the government can choose to call an election at any time throughout this period. The government is not permitted to break this "contract" and cannot stay in power for any longer than 5 years without an election being held. Once an election is called all of the main political party's campaign to try and win support from the voters. Anybody over the age of 21 who is a citizen of the country or commonwealth may also choose to nominate themselves to be a candidate in an election even if they are not a member of a political party. (Some restrictions apply) To ensure than there are no time wasters, candidates are requested to pay £500 before an election and they get it back if they win a 5% of the vote. A Liberal democracy also has to be representative so that all areas of the country and people from different backgrounds, race, religion should have some form of representation in parliament. During an election, people have the right to choose who they want to be elected and should be under no pressure or influence to vote for somebody they don't want to. Men and women over the legal age limit (18) have the right to one vote each, provided they are on the electoral register although certain people such as members of the House of Lords, the mentally ill, people in jail can not vote. When the day of the election comes, the votes are cast confidentially and are later counted. In the U.K. the "first past the post" system is used, so the political party that wins the majority of seats in the election, is elected to serve as the government. If the public are unhappy with the way that the government is performing, the Liberal theory allows the public to remove them from power.
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Once in Power, the government has to follow certain rules so that they can't take complete control over the country or be governed by a dictator. To ensure this, a liberal state would have a Constitution, which is a set of rules that must be obeyed by those in power and/or a Bill of Rights which "entrench individual rights by providing a legal definition of the relationship between the individual and the state". (P41, Political Ideologies, A Heywood) In the U.S.A. they have a written constitution that has to be obeyed by the government. This constitution splits the ...

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