UK Politics - elections, referendums and democracy.

by deniseooa (student)

1(a) how does a referendum differ from an election?

A referendum is a form of direct democracy; it is a strategy which enables the electorates to participate in political decisions. Elections however are a general vote from electorates, voting for who they want to govern. Referendums are usually shorter than Elections as they just involve the filling out of a ballot paper, in fact a referendum is similar to the FPTP (first-past-the-post) voting system. Elections can take place in different forms such as the AV system and the STV system. Elections may not necessarily increase democracy, whereas referendums are one of the most adequate types of the purest form of Democracy, direct democracy. Also, referendums are held more often than elections, as referendums can be held for various reasons, whereas, elections are rarely held and are usually used only for political matters by parliament.

(b)Explain the arguments in favour of making voting compulsory

There have been various arguments in favour of making voting compulsory, by making voting compulsory; by making voting compulsory people are practically forced to vote therefore they are forced to share their opinion on political matters. In recent years political participation is said to be meeting a downfall, in 1979 political participation was at a rise but political participation from 2004 has continuously decreased, the reason for this is thought to be that their votes are not being taken into consideration by making voting compulsory democracy will rise and the voices of the people will be heard. By making Voting compulsory, there will also be an increase in political participation, citizens will be more interested In politics, another argument in favour of voting is the dispersal of power, by voting being made compulsory, more citizens become interested in politics and have an impact on the decisions being made, it is also believed that if it becomes compulsory for citizens to vote, they will be more satisfied with whatever changes there are within the society, knowing that the decision was not only in the hands of leaders but majority of the people.

Representative Democracy is another type of democracy; it is a form of democracy in which citizens in a region are represented by a minority of office holders. Representative democracy has risen in the UK; however, the effectiveness of representative democracy on the other hand is still being taken into consideration.

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Firstly, Representative Democracy has risen within the UK in recent years, but the increase in direct democracy has decreased, direct democracy is the purest democracy system that maintains high levels of political participation, thus, political participation has decreased in recent years, the lack of political participation does not disperse power fairly thus it is in the hands of simply the government and a small number of citizens., thus it is thought that Representative democracy is failing to represent well.

Secondly, there has been an increase in representative democracy, however the representatives appear to be failing the constituency and so most people no longer rely on their representatives and no longer take part in these political matters, however when they do feel the need to express themselves to the parliament or what they want government attention they tend to face pressure groups, for example pressure groups, for example, when Fathers4Justice wanted attention they dressed up as superheroes to get attention.

Thirdly, Representative democracy is said to be unrepresentative, democracy is the government by the people for the people, of the people. So they are expected to take care of the nation, but it is thought that representatives are not looking out for the minorities. Instead they pay more attention to the majority or those from areas they choose to represent. For example ethnic minorities in places such as South London are not well represented in the House of Commons.

However, since there has been an increase in the use of representative democracy we understand that there are some positive aspects of representative democracy.

Firstly, Representatives have a superior knowledge in terms of political decisions, thus, the decisions of the nation are in the hands of those with good knowledge of what is best for the UK especially during elections, for example decisions based on NHS, taxes, education and so on, are left in the hands of representatives.

Secondly, Representatives help the nation to make positive decisions, for the benefit of not only some parts of the nation but the nation as a whole, by representatives representing an area of the UK they come together in the House of Commons, and come together to stress their arguments in the past some arguments have led to the formation of coalition governments such as the Liberal-conservatives in 2010. This avoids bias decisions, and protects as much of the nation as possible.

Lastly, Representatives are not bias, because they listen to the voices of everyone from their area they get a collective opinion and are able to represent and protect those who want to be heard this encourages political participation not as much as direct democracy but has fairly maintained the participation of citizens within the UK.

In conclusion, representation operates fairly in the UK as it plays a good role in protecting minorities, making decisions for the best of every part of the country with their ‘superior knowledge’. Although it has been unrepresentative to some districts and led to a bit of a downfall in political participation within the UK.