How far was Britain a democracy by 1918?

To what extent do different electoral systems produce different outcomes? In this essay I will assess the outcomes of Additional Member system, First Past the Post system and the Closed Party List system. The F-P-T-P system is used to elect the members of House of Commons and local government in England and Wales. Voters select candidates, and do so by marking his or her name with an ‘X’ on the ballot paper. This reflects the principle of ‘one person, one vote’. The Additional Members system is used in Scottish parliament, Welsh assembly, and Northern Ireland Assembly and Greater London assembly. It is a mixed system made up of F-P-T-P and party-list elements. The Regional party list (or the closed party list) is used to elect the

Government & Politics Essay To what extent is there a democratic deficit in the UK? There is an argument that the government has the power and right to change laws and represent people without necessarily having to be elected. This can also be known as ‘Democratic deficit’. An example of democratic deficit is the House of Lords. The members in the House of Lords aren’t elected but they get to make laws and represent the people. The members in House of Lords are usually given their seats hereditarily so many people found it unfair that they’re not elected into the Parliament but they can make decisions and laws

The reforms of Devolution where power was transferred from Westminster to different elected bodies around the country. This makes the UK more democratic as power is no longer centralised and areas such as parts of Scotland, Wales and Ireland will not be neglected. However England itself does not have its own assembly and the fact that we cannot vote on certain things in areas of the UK, but everyone can vote in policies in England could be seen to be undemocratic. Overall this reform however has made the UK more democratic as it means areas will not be forgotten about and countries and areas within the UK can get specific things that that area may want or need more then others.

Democracy in the United Kingdom has changed a lot over the years however the definition has never changed. The right for people to choose and decide how a country is run. This essay will help decide whether the United Kingdom still follows that definition of being a true democracy and analysing how this has affected the people of the UK.

Furthermore, voting was organized not by the voice of the citizenry, but by a national two–party system staffed by disciplined professionals. These professionals included candidates, appointed office holders, newspaper editors, and local leaders who organized voters, wrote party platforms, and developed party ideologies in ways that only partially and indirectly reflected popular wishes. Thus political participation was democratized by the 1830s. But democracy included only white men, and even they were transformed from citizens to spectators.

Democracy comes from the Greek words “demos” meaning “people” and “kratia” meaning “power or rule”. Essentially “democracy” means “rule of the people”. Cleisthenes took Solon’s reforms even further and reorganised the Boule (legislative council) to ensure that it was represented by all sections of society and not just the aristocracy. The popular assembly consisted of all free male citizens who voted on laws proposed by the Boule. Eventually, citizens would be paid to attend the assembly and to serve in public office. This would ensure that the poorer citizens would also be able to

Democracy in the United States became prominent in the early to mid 19th century. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, was inaugurated in 1829 and was best known as the person who mainstreamed democracy in America. Because he came from a humble background, he was the “genuine common man.” (Foner, pg. 303) He claimed he recognized the needs of the people and spoke on behalf of the majority [farmers, laborers]. However, critics of Jackson and democracy called him “King Andrew I” because of his apparent abuse of presidential power [vetoing]. These critics believed he favored the majority so much that it violated the U.S. constitution, and they stated he was straying too far away from the plan originally set for the

Did the Election of 1828 Represent a Democratic Revolt of the People? Despite the outcome I fully believe that the election of 1828 did in fact, create a democratic revolt of the people because of the social and political backlash that the election created. The election of Andrew Jackson as President in 1828 marked the beginning of an era known as Jacksonian Democracy or the Age of the Common Man. The changes in politics during Jackson's presidency provided various social and economic changes.

Democratic ideals have proven elusive throughout history, and are oftentimes only gained through bloodshed, as shown by the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. While some opposed social reform for fear of tearing down entire social structures (G) antebellum reformers were still able to push for, if not fully gain, many democratic

"Describe the steps taken between 1832 and 1918 to extend the suffrage in England. What group and movements contributed to the extension of the vote?" Several groups, movements and reform bills passed between 1832 and 1918 extended the suffrage in England. The process took many years and the voting rights

Entry 2 What did the Democracy in America between the years of 1815-1840 consist of? Democracy was associated with the abolition of the property requirement for a person to vote. Blacks, however, were still considered as

For some British thinkers, the word “Democracy” was directly used for referring to the “House of Commons” unlike in the early American Revolution where the word “Democracy” was referred to as the greater equality inspired by the struggle for independence. Democracy did not exist in the colonies before the Revolution because political status was directly related to wealth. Special qualifications were supposed to be met in order to be eligible to vote or to be sitting in an assembly.

Democracy is first stated in the chapter by Hofstadter, democracy is evil according to our founding fathers. Men are selfish and argumentative. Hofstadter says, “Calvinistic sense of humor, evil and damnation.” Basically saying that our democracy is bound to fail. It also has been said that the most seen dangers rest in the democratic parts of America’s constitution. Our founding fathers believed that democracy could potentially be the root problem in our country. During the time period democracy wasn’t seen as a political party that brought progression to our country and didn’t last very long. Elbridge

With regards to seats the Reform Act still didn’t push towards democracy however there were still some democratic features. The disfranchising of rotten boroughs was seen as democratic and in addition reducing the representation of boroughs in comparison to counties also leaned towards democracy. In spite of this the seats still didn’t correspond very closely to the population and rural areas still continued to be over representative. Small boroughs still remained and towns with very high population were denied separate parliamentary representation. Even though the reform act did make slight changes towards democracy with regards to seats, I believe it still remained somewhat undemocratic.

The thirteen colonies in America began early on to develop democratic features due to British political traditions, distance from mother country, and other factors. Despite this many aspects of colonial life were strikingly undemocratic. This time period suggest that colonial democracy was a work in progress. Democracy in colonial America was a work in progress with democratic and undemocratic features.