Is the Uk political system democratic?
Is the UK political system democratic?
“A government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
The word democracy comes from the Greek words "demos" which means the people and "kratos" which means authority, or power. A democratic political system is one in which the ultimate political authority is vested in the people this means that all eligible citizens are able to participate equally either directly or through elected representatives in the proposal, development, and creation of laws that will change and shape everyday life. A democratic country aims to have an accountable government that serve the best interests of the people it is governing. The UK is a liberal democracy which ensures that citizens should be able to influence governmental decisions made.
The UK’s governmental system contains no written constitution. This means that theoretically the government are free to pass any legislation as long as they have the majority in parliament which could be easily achieved if the party has a large majority of seats. This means there is no safeguard for laws that can be altered or new ones that could be created. This is very undemocratic as the government therefore have too much power. The government is also in possession of other powers such as the royal prerogative that allows the prime minister to go to war without consent from parliament. An example of where this was used was the Iraq war in 2003 which was heavily resented by a large majority of the public.
The most important thing is that true democracy is participatory democracy, where members of the public are effectively members of the government by voting directly on policies. However this is difficult to administer and as a result most modern democracies are representative. The public chooses who they wish to possess power and trust that person to devise policies that will benefit them. A representative democracy can easily become an elected dictatorship if the population’s views are not
“A government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
The word democracy comes from the Greek words "demos" which means the people and "kratos" which means authority, or power. A democratic political system is one in which the ultimate political authority is vested in the people this means that all eligible citizens are able to participate equally either directly or through elected representatives in the proposal, development, and creation of laws that will change and shape everyday life. A democratic country aims to have an accountable government that serve the best interests of the people it is governing. The UK is a liberal democracy which ensures that citizens should be able to influence governmental decisions made.
The UK’s governmental system contains no written constitution. This means that theoretically the government are free to pass any legislation as long as they have the majority in parliament which could be easily achieved if the party has a large majority of seats. This means there is no safeguard for laws that can be altered or new ones that could be created. This is very undemocratic as the government therefore have too much power. The government is also in possession of other powers such as the royal prerogative that allows the prime minister to go to war without consent from parliament. An example of where this was used was the Iraq war in 2003 which was heavily resented by a large majority of the public.
The most important thing is that true democracy is participatory democracy, where members of the public are effectively members of the government by voting directly on policies. However this is difficult to administer and as a result most modern democracies are representative. The public chooses who they wish to possess power and trust that person to devise policies that will benefit them. A representative democracy can easily become an elected dictatorship if the population’s views are not