Preview

Advantages and Disadvantages of Representative Democracy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
699 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Advantages and Disadvantages of Representative Democracy
What are the advantages and disadvantages of representative democracy?

Representative democracy is where the public people vote for and elect a person (called an MP, Member or Parliament) to portray and voice the opinions of the area the MP was elected in. They will take the views of their constituency on board when speaking in the House of Commons. A country which uses this is the United Kingdom.
One of the advantages of representative democracy is that even with over 60 million people in the UK the system of representative democracy works very well. This is in comparison to direct democracy where things are unworkable. Even though Direct Democracy is the purest form of democracy it is extremely expensive to run and cannot be done regularly. AV referendum 2011 (Alternative Voting) cost £75 million, whereas MP’s average salary is £60,000. However the downside of this is that all elected MP’s will have their own and their party’s agenda to look to too and therefore might overlook the wishes of the people that voted them. Also any new parties and pressure groups that there may be are given the freedom and the right to operate how they want and are allowed to pressurise the government into looking at their views and beliefs. Although with representative democracy parties get off and do not get to have their voice heard it does create a pluralist society
Although representative democracy is good in the way that MP’s get chosen by the public it is still a very selective process. MP’s are usually white, middle class, middle aged men. This does not give an accurate representation of the UK as there are a lot of ethnic minorities. However there are very few MP’s who actually represent these minorities. For example, in the UK there are 8% BAME’s (Black Asian Minority Ethnics) however only 4% of those are represented in parliament. Likewise with women, there are 50% of women in the population of the UK, however only 23% of parliament are women. Again this doesn’t show

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Proportionality is a key factor in assessing the fairness of a voting system, if a parties number of votes is not equal or close to their number of seats in parliament then the voters’ are being misrepresented. AMS is a PR system, which results in a party’s percentage of votes being more in line with the number of seats they win in parliament. The list MSPs ‘top up’ the constituency MSPs to make the overall result within a region approximately in line with the wishes of the electorate. In the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary elections Labour received 3 ‘top up’ MSPs to better reflect its level of support across the North East region as it received 44,000 in the 2nd vote. This shows that AMS allows for good representation in Parliament for voters. However, FPTP does not allow this same proportionality in Parliament, and in turn less representation of the electorate’s views as a whole. FPTP produces a disproportionate result. The two main parties have concentrated support in certain areas so win constituencies and seats. Smaller parties such as the Green Party and UKIP, with less concentrated support than Labour and the Conservatives, lose out under FPTP. For example, in 2005 Labour received 36% of the vote but 55% of the seats. The Lib Dems only received 10% of the seats with 22% of the vote. This shows AMS is more responsive to the will of the people as the composition of parliament will more closely represent the wishes of the electorate as it has an element of proportionality unlike…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1850 Britain was extremely far from being known as a democracy. This was due to the fact that the great reform act only extended the power of the vote from wealthy landowning men in 1832 to the wealthy middle class men. This meant that the majority of the population still were unable to vote. For a country to be democratic it entails to have certain circumstances which would include the majority of the population, every adult, having the right to vote for their country. There should also be an equal amount of seats distributed. All elections that take place should be run fairly and be restricted from intimidation and influence. Every adult should also only be entitled to one vote whereas at this time some individuals who went to university could vote in their university constituency as well as when they owned a property. It should be allowed that a person from any background is able to become an MP. By 1918 many of these circumstances had been met although not all. Although improvements had been met in Britain some aspects that would make the country fully become a democracy where not in place, therefore it can be argued that Britain was not fully a democracy by 1918.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ap Gove Study Guide

    • 20135 Words
    • 81 Pages

    Representative democracy (R.D.) – a political system in which leaders and representatives acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote. This is the form of gov’t used by nations that are called democratic.…

    • 20135 Words
    • 81 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diets across the world are generally very different from one another especially if one were to compare them to the diets of the past. Such as during the Elizabethan era, when there were many plagues that had changed the course of typical diets across Europe and the gap between the different economic classes. The plagues not only heavily influenced the new diets to be established for the different economic classes and meals made for varieties of special occasions but it also helped to steer the population to their new ideologies of common entertainment. During the Elizabethan era the average Elizabethan typically did not eat much unless it was a specified holiday, and a common sources of entertainment for the wealthy were along the lines of…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Representative government: a type of government in which citizens elect someone to vote for them on political issues.…

    • 2036 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Legal Studies Notes

    • 37517 Words
    • 151 Pages

    Each electorate votes for a representative for Parliament, who must obtain to majority of votes in that electorate.…

    • 37517 Words
    • 151 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civics Eoc Study Guide

    • 3272 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Representative Democracy – the citizens choose a smaller group to represent them, make laws, and govern on their behalf, but the people remain the source of the government’s authority.…

    • 3272 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1999 Labour reformed the House of Lords; Labour removed 600 hereditary peers and reduced it to only 92 hereditary Lords in the House of Lords. However, the labor government did propose a system of “elected peers”, where the public could choose peers to sit in the House of Lords. This proposal was never fully implemented into the UK constitution. Until this proposal is full entrenched it is argued that the Lords are not democratically legitimate as all policy making institutions must have legitimacy. Therefore, there is much that can be done towards constitutional reform.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Exam 1 study guide

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    What is a representative democracy? It’s a variety of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the MP for Bath John Patten put it, “They undermine Westminster. What they ensure, as we saw in the last election, is if you have a referendum on an issue politicians during an election campaign say oh we're not going to talk about that, we don't need to talk about that, that's all for the referendum.”. One example of this occurring would be the General Election of 2001, where one hotly contested topic was the prospect of Britain joining the Euro. Many arguments should have been made regarding our relationship to the Single Currency – none were, however. This is because Gordon Brown indicated a referendum would be held, effectively sweeping the entire issue under the carpet, and it was never seriously considered again. Incidentally, the referendum was never held, and the enormous Constitutional Issue ceased to be a topic of note, at the whim of the Government. This isn’t to say the reverse is not true. Blair’s Government held a referendum in 2004, on the proposition of North-Eastern England devolving to have its own elected assembly. The Regional Assemblies were a large project for the Labour Government, but the North-East shot it down, with 77.9% of the votes cast showing a no to the…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due the nation's interest in materialism and individualism, we have gained a certain lack of interest in political matters and affairs – people find politics dull and many people think that it doesn't affect them, this results to certain inhabitants obtaining a 'laissez-faire' attitude toward the government. Nowadays citizens around the UK aren't aware of political dealings; this supports the idea that today's society has become far more materialistic when compared to the previous generations. Many people take the approach that the government can 'do what they want' as the majority of Brits spend their time worrying about getting the next best iPhone etc. The UK has become very divided in the past 20 years due to the generation gap between certain individuals in society. Today's generation of teenagers have become disinterested in the UK's current affairs, this may be down to the fact that they have not been socialised to consider the country's events, which in turn blames the next generation and their lack of interest in how Britain is governed, this has lead to the UK's population becoming far more self aware as opposed to considering others. On the contrary, the elderly people in today's society were raised with slightly different morals and views on how their country was governed. Previous generations deemed voting to be a privilege, something that they had earned – the majority of this generation wouldn't even dream of not voting...out of respect. This highlights how the change in generations has prompted the UK to dive into a participation crisis.…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The UK is currently facing a declining participation from the general public in formal politics. Since 1997 turnout for general elections has declined significantly and party membership has dwindled to an all-time low. Between 1951 and 2008 Conservative individual party membership has decreased from 2,900,000 to just 250,000 and Labor 876,000 to just 166,000.…

    • 1655 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Socials

    • 4464 Words
    • 20 Pages

    A type of democracy in which the people select representatives to direct the day-to-day affairs of the government on their behalf.…

    • 4464 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As well as a decreasing number of people voting in general elections there is a similarly decreasing number of people becoming members of political parties and this is another reason to agree that there is a participation crisis in the UK. In 2010, only 1% of the…

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Canadian Party Discipline

    • 3485 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Instead they are allowed to vote according to their own conscious and/or to the decisions made by the voters in their constituencies, because after all, as some critics say, members are elected by their constituents and should be responsible to them.11 This will result with the MPs playing a more important role in the House of Commons in terms of passing legislations. Also, if party discipline were relaxed in Canada, representation for all areas of Canada may improve.12 For example, it will be easier for MPs from western provinces to challenge their party, if needed, in support of western issues; coalitions of members from different political…

    • 3485 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics