The main features of Britain's democracy.

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Chris Michael (6).

Politics essay:

The main features of Britain’s democracy.

        

        There are many types of democracy, since, if defining the word democracy which comes from the Greek words “demos”, meaning people, and the word “cratos”, meaning state, we can see that if a governing system includes the activity of any individual that is part of that state is a type of democracy. And also when a government is open to the public and any individual with certain skill and knowledge can take part in the system.

        Democracy in general and more purely defined is the “rule of the people”. It is a form of government where the authority comes from directly or indirectly from the people. The roots of this type of government derive from the “market place” of ancient Athens where people used to gather in those places in order to argue and decide on any issues concerning the state. Nowadays is quite difficult to organize such gatherings due to the massive population democratic countries and communities have. Living under a democratic system it is considered to be a fair way of living among others and of various standards of living. Democratic countries, such as Britain is a difficult case to define. This is due to the history and way of living the English have had the recent centuries. It may be consisted of more than one type. Some types of democracy that might suite the British government are Tory democracy, Elitist democracy, Pluralist democracy and Liberal democracy.

Tory democracy is the democratic system where traditional institutions are present and on the side of other elected ones, in Britain it would be the Conservative party. Also monarchy and the House of Lords are part of the Tory democracy. In this type of government there were dangers, such as the capitalists gaining power therefore damaging the working class’s interests and beliefs. Also the other danger which actually formed this type of democracy was the majority of the working class that could override traditional ruling classes. In other words aristocracy would not be able to govern. Tory democracy has been forgotten, but not entirely since it can be one of the main features that Britain’s democratic system includes, due to more attention being drawn by elected institutions and parties.

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The next type of a democratic system is, as described in most political science dictionaries, the one where a small group of wealthy, highly educated and more privileged men are able to govern a state. The logic behind this system is that the common individual could not properly express an opinion. People were just uneducated or only had little knowledge to understand politics and other more complicated arguments. In this type of government the involvement of people is limited since individuals cannot exercise pressure or be frequently involved in issues. Elitist democracy is a type of democracy, whereas I have ...

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