Ways in Which Britain is Democratic Essay

Political equality gives the same voice of each individual citizen the same power as another person’s voice (SUO, 2016). The government has put into place laws that ensure every citizen has equal opportunity to vote, and have their voice heard in the

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

One final argument for direct democracy in the UK is that it increases the people’s political participation and engagement in current issues. When people are given the opportunity to have their say, they are more likely to get involved in the process, thus increasing the accuracy of the judgement. A successful and fully functional democracy relies on the involvement of the general public and the people it will be directly

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 centrepiece of Labour 's programme of constitutional reform was undoubtedly devolution. This was achieved with remarkably few problems. There now seems no likelihood that the new arrangements could be reversed, even by a Conservative administration. The election on 6 May 1999 of a Parliament in Scotland, with extensive powers of primary legislation as well as tax-raising, and an Assembly in Wales, with powers of secondary legislation only, will have a profound impact on governance within the UK. In

The dispersion of power in the UK varies greatly, each country having a different seat on the level-pegging of power over one another - in particular, policy areas, due to the various referendums, including ones already mentioned. This is called an asymmetrical devolution system.

The Framers of the Constitution purposely left the power to set suffrage qualifications to each State. Suffrage means the right to vote. Franchise is synonym for the right to vote. The electorate is all of the people entitled to vote in given election. The right to vote was limited to white males that owned property in America in 1789 when Constitution can into effect. Today, the size of the American electorate is greater than 230 million people. Nearly all citizens at least 18 years of age can qualify to vote. The history of American suffrage since 1789 has been marked by two long term trends. The first growing federal control over suffrage and second the elimination of voting restrictions.

In our system of government we are privileged with the option to take part in the political process that runs the country. It is our right to vote that lets the people influence change in policy and set the guidelines that politicians must follow to be elected representatives. This precious ability, which is most coveted in most non-democratic countries, is taken for granted in our own.

The main parties of Australia are: the Labour Party, Liberal Party, National Party, and the Australian Democrats; these parties are voted in through a preferential system of voting (“Australia’s Political Structure,” 2011). All citizens over the age of 18 are required to vote for these parties because of compulsory voting (adopted in 1924). Australia followed many other democracies on there decision to implement compulsory voting during the 1920s. However, the country unusually added mandatory voting without other previsions (Birch, 2009). Australia was able to do so because of several strong factors supporting the measure.

Voting in many countries is held in different ways. In The United States of America, voting is voluntary while the Australian citizen has to vote, it is compulsory. When an Australian citizen does not vote they receive a fine. Compulsory voting has now become a large political issue for many countries. Great Britain has seen a dramatic decline in the number of people voting in the last 15 years (Singh, 2014) and compulsory voting has become a large political and social debate. However, as with any political change, there are strengths and weaknesses. The Australian system is an excellent one to analyse as the question has to be asked when introducing compulsory voting what are the long term democratic, economic and social issues? Four key points can be outlined to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian compulsory voting system. The first, compulsory voting provides a clear and accurate representation of an entire electorate. Additionally, this system may influence an increase in support for the leftist policy in a current democratic institution. Another key issue to consider is, does an active and informed citizen have a moral duty and obligation to vote to protect and further society? Key constitutional changes brought about by referendums can prove that compulsory voting is essential and needed in society for every vote to count. Lastly, compulsory voting when being a secret ballot can turn into a more compulsory “turn up” for many citizens as they can

Parliament is very effective when dealing with the public and their interests and needs like when they redress public grievances to make sure they are listened too. However, parliament isn’t so effective on the representative side of things. This is because the electoral system that we use isn’t very fair and excludes smaller parties of a chance of being voted into parliament. This therefore means a large number of public votes have been

Voting rights have been intertwined with every part of our history. The fight for the right to vote started evolving before the American Revolution and hasn’t completely stopped. Due to taxation and ruling from King George of England, many colonists were upset with how they were living in the new colonies. They wanted freedom from a king and independence so they could choose how to live. But the American Revolution did not bring as much freedom in government as the people may have hoped. The creation of the Constitution, and the then Bill of Rights, enabled the people to have the limited government they desired. It did not include policies for social welfare and justice, but it was open to be edited in the future. When certain policies, like voting, where brought to people’s attention, cultural differences impacted how some people voted throughout history. The founding fathers were smart to leave the Bill of Rights amendable. Through amendments

The first stage is Restricted colonial suffrage. During the early state of the colonial, the population was small, and needed the revitalization of the colony, they established a new authority. So the early colonies did not to restrict the right to vote. However, with the expansion of the size of the colony, and gradually qualify for the right to vote, parliamentary elections were required

The first thing to look at is the various types of democracy used in the UK. There are many examples of the various types of democracies with the first being direct democracy. A recent example of what a direct democracy can do is the Scottish Referendum taking place throughout Scotland. This allows the people of Scotland to take the decision of independence in to their own hands. This is a great example

Democracy is a form of government which dominates the western world. In democracy, every person is given equal input into matters of the state, although this does happen to varying degrees. There exist many different types of democracy. Absolute or direct democracy occurs when each citizen personally participates in all decision-making processes. This system is difficult to maintain due to the vast number of people and the necessity for all people to be informed, logical, and educated when making many decisions. This form of democracy has not existed in significant sized populations. Representative democracy is a type of government in which the people elect government officials to make decisions concerning the state. The two most prevalent types of representative democracy are democratic republics and parliamentary democracies. In a democratic republic, such as the United States or Canada, the people elect both their representatives in government and their head of state. In a parliamentary democracy, such as the United Kingdom or Australia, the people elect their representatives and their representatives elect their head of state.