To what extent would the wider use of referendums improve democracy in the UK? This response will discuss to what extent the wider use of referendums improve democracy in the UK. Referendums are a tool of direct democracy where the electorate vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on an issue. There are many arguments for and against the wider use of referendums within the UK in an aim to improve the UK’s democracy; these arguments will be explored in this essay. The first argument links to the fact that politicians are in their position to represent the public’s interests.
Elections are free and held regularly, however their often considered to be unfair and undemocratic. This is likely to be due to the first-past-the-post system which distorts party representation and unfortunately, smaller parties are often under-represented. A proportional representation system should be introduced to better the representation. This could however lead to extremist parties such as the BNP gaining seats in the Houses of Parliament. In the UK all competent adults are permitted to participate in political processes.
Do political parties help or hinder democracy in the UK Political parties can be seen to help and hinder democracy in the UK, however in my opinion I feel that they help democracy more than hinder it, as political parties give the electorate a varied range of choice along with many other democracy enhancing factors. One of the main reasons as to why I believe political parties help democracy is because they provide the general public with a diverse choice of ideologies that can gain power, ranging from the conservative party to the monster raving loony party. The electorate can vote for a candidate in a party that they feel shares their beliefs. However, some people may argue that the three main parties (conservative, liberal democrat and labour) have all moved very central and now share similar ideologies detracting from the idea of “choice”. To this I would say that the parties may have centralised slightly, but their core values still exist, which is what most people are interested in.
Political parties are important because the relationships between them are crucial in making the political system work. The mainstream view of UK politics is that it is dominated by the two-party system. However, changes in politics have caused people to disagree about the extent of the UK being a two party system. In 1998, devolution (the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level) took place through the creation of a Scottish Parliament, a Welsh Assembly and a Northern Ireland Assembly. Devolution has made nationalist parties more prominent.
The Lords has also become more legitimate since the reforms because it’s influence has increased, the Lords are now looked to by the Commons to see what they think of what the government is doing more and more. They scrutinise the government’s decisions and make suggestions and changes to policy. More and more often the Lords reject or request changes to legislation from the Commons which most of the time the Commons agree with or work on – this highlights how effective and influential the Lords are. c) How successfully does Parliament perform its representative functions in modern Britain?
Should more referendums be held in the UK? (25 marks) Referendums are processes in which the government puts forward a question to the public, in which they must have either a conclusion of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There are many advantages, however also many disadvantages of using referendums, which would determine whether more should be put forward in the UK. The first, and most important advantage of using referendums is that it is a direct form of democracy. A question put forward by the government to be decided by the public with either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ verdict cannot be tampered with or imply any confusion to the people/public deciding on the question.
The government should be in the hands of the people in order to have a successful government. Jefferson felt that massed were well educated and capable of governing a country. Hamilton, however felt that popular government would be beneficial to the United States, rather than government ruled by majority. “The voice of the people has been said to be the voice of God; and however generally this maxim has been quoted and believed, it is not true in fact. The
The government will make their own decision whether other opposition parties disagree with them; the government in power still make their own decision. Example of this is, when after Labour victory in 1997, the New Labour administration established an Independent Commission on Electoral Reform under Lord Jenkins. Lord Jenkins’ recommendation that AV should be introduced for UK general elections after a disappointed that many fellows of Liberal Democrats had. Liberal Democrats felt that STV might be more effective in addressing the flaws in the current FPTP system. Despite of this, Labour decided not to move ahead with the reforms.
Economist Joseph Schumpeter's definition of democracy is that in order to become a leader, you have to go into a competitive struggle with someone else and gain the citizens votes. This form of democracy is sometimes positively viewed as representative democracy and negatively viewed as the "elitist theory of democracy." The Founding Fathers were influenced by Aristotle's definition of democracy, "rule of the many", in other words it meant that middle class people, and even poor people had the power. However, he believed that democracy could easily fall into oligarchy or a tyranny. For this not to happen, a combination of oligarchy and democracy should be formed.
One of the most important topics Locke wanted to encourage, was that people have control over the government, setting limited power for a temporary time, and in having this, the people can demolish the form of government if the government does not comply to the people’s needs “the people have a right to act as supreme, and continue the legislative in themselves” (Locke). He believed that using reasons to explain what is true will ensure the purpose of