A) Read “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt, UK Guardian July,2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/british-democracy-decline-report. Summarize the article including an assessment of the “Party Membership” and “Standards of Conduct” graphics. Be sure to identify democratic and non-democratic aspects of UK democracy mentioned in this article. Why does the author believe UK democracy is on the decline?
And
B) ONE other UK Electoral Reform article from this page:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/british-democracy-decline-report
Summarize the second article and explain whether this reform promotes or hinders democratic progress.
C)Evaluation - Overall, is the UK a true democracy? Include information from class and these articles to support your answer. (You may want to reference legitimacy, transparency and efficacy in your response.)
Jackie Armao D-Block
ReplyDeleteThe article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt, is about democracy on the decline. Politicians have become less representative of their constituencies and citizens have stopped voting on important current affairs. One of the growing problems is Britain’s constitutional setups which are increasingly unstable. This is due to devolution,which is the gradual independence from an empire, public faith in a democratic institution decaying, and a widening gap in the participation rates of different social classes of voters. The Party Membership graph shows the membership of the UK’s three main political parties. The party membership has declined in the Conservative and Labour parties but in 2009 the labour party increased slightly. The third party on the graph, the Liberal Democrats, stayed the same throughout the years.The Standards of Conduct shows the overall perception of standards of conduct in public life in the UK. This graph shows that the legitimacy in the government has steadily decreased and those who were very unhappy with the government are becoming a larger majority of the population.The author believes that Democracy is on the decline in the UK because no one is taking pride in it anymore. Politicians don’t look to take care of their constituencies, voters don’t feel their government is being legitimate so they don’t vote, and their is a wide social gap within the nation’s votes.
In the article “Boundaries debate: shipwreck survivors fall out and are over a barrel” http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/29/commons-boundaries-debate-shipwreck-survivors-sketch, is about a boundary dispute.The Tories had only themselves to blame for the fact that the Lords had thrown the boundary changes out, because it was they who, by refusing Lords reform. With all of the arguing that is recorded in this article it will hinder democratic progress. If the parties cannot get along and work together than the nation will see the disorganization within Parliament and feel that democratization is hopeless.
I feel the UK could be taking the right steps towards Democracy but needs to straighten out the kinks. They need to work on the legitimacy, transparency and efficacy aspects that come with government. Many people still feel that the government isn’t being legitimate and that is a big problem. If the citizens can’t trust their government to do the right things and make the right decisions then they can’t make it through to Democracy.
Marina Saad
ReplyDeleteIn the Article "British Democracy In Terminal Decline, Warns Report" By Juliette Jowitt talks about how the British Democracy is currently declining. Due to the fact that many large corporations are rapidly growing, and powerful leaders and politicians aren't participating in current events; which has lead to citizens stop voting and participating in current events as well. According to the Democratic Audit, one of Britain's concerns is that many areas of Britain appeared to have moved further away from its two benchmarks of representative democracy. Control over political decision-making, and how fairly the system reflects the population it represents. This has become a large issue for their government. According to the Party Membership, membership of the UK's three main political parties in the thousands has displayed a graph that demonstrates that Conservative party started from 400,000 in the year 2000 to declined to a little under 200,000 a close to a decade later. As far as the Labour party goes the also suffered a decrease as well, but in 2009 have increased with time slightly. Lastly the Liberal Democrat party kept it steady for the decade but slightly increased around 2010. Now as to the Standards of Conduct graph, this is the overall perception of standards of conduct in public life, in the UK.This shows the legitimacy in the government, which shows that that people are not interested or unhappy with their government.
In the article "Secret court Hearing Plans Pushed Through By Government" but Juliette Jowit and Owen Bowcott. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/mar/04/secret-court-hearing-plans-government.
This article is about how politician Ken Clarke, who is the conservative minister was steering the justice and security bill through parliament without a portfolio. The government pushed its plans for secret hearings defeating amendments "tabled" by the front bench of the Labour party. Over time the government has made number of concessions to try and win over the Liberal Democrats with this bill. But on Monday night the civil campaigners promised to continue fighting the government plans for secret court hearings in sensitive to national security cases after MPs rejected the stronger safeguards. This promotes the democratic process because this will eventually initiate that some parts of government have more power, and will cause the government or parties to create a better balance of government. The United Kingdom is proof of a true democratic government because it requires majority in upper and lower house to pass a law. Also either houses may present or sponsor a bill as well.
a) The author,Juliette Jowit, of the article "British democracy in terminal decline, warns report" believes that the UK democracy is on the decline because its citizens are beginning to doubt (lack of legitimacy) that the UK is really a representative form of government anymore. Corporate power is rising which will threaten to undermine rudimentary democratic principles. The author states, “The reality is that representative democracy, at the core, has to be about people voting, has to be about people engaging in political parties, has to be about people having contact with elected representatives, and having faith and trust in elected representatives, as well as those representatives demonstrating they can exercise political power effectively and make decisions that tend to be approved of". The people’s lack of faith and interest in politics is proving to have a toll on the country as a whole. People are voting less and less, like in 2010, there was a rare referendum and only 46 percent of people voted. The people doubt their true role in government; therefore, they don’t have as much interest and belief in the government.
ReplyDeleteNon-Democratic Features of England’s Government:
- Not being able to vote for mayors. Textual evidence: “last year only 42% voted in a rare referendum on changing the voting system for general elections, and in May [2012] eight out of nine cities rejected the chance to have directly elected mayors like London:
- Citizens can vote in General Elections, ruling parties. Textual evidence: “Membership of political parties and election turnout has fallen significantly in the last decade, with only 1% of the electorate belonging to a party, and just over six out of 10 eligible voters going to the ballot box in the 2010 general election”.
b) In the article, “’Bungled’ Police and Crime Commissioner Election Failed Voters” by Alan Travis, UK’s government tried to make reforms by having citizens directly vote for a police commissioner for the first time, but it backfired instead. 90% of people still don’t know who the police commissioner is. The public says this election was mismanaged by the government because the candidates were not presented and portrayed properly and there were many legal issues that made some candidate’s ’validity’ vague. Many citizens note that the home office did not have sufficient resources and expertise to run an election. Rather than making reforms, the UK’s government hindered advancement by having a poorly run election. This has caused doubt among citizens, hindering the government’s legitimacy.
c) At the moment, the UK is not a true democracy. A democracy is supposed to allow legal citizens to have a direct say in government, whether it is directly voting on a law or voting on a representative. Citizens can’t vote on people to be in the house of lords and they are suppose to represent people in different constituencies. Many cities don’t even directly vote for its mayors. Occasionally citizens can vote on things directly, like it was only recently that people were able to vote for the police commissioner. There is currently a lack of legitimacy in the UK. Citizens do not strongly believe in the government. Television news and newspapers have lost viewers/readers because they lack faith and interest. The UK is otherwise pretty transparent and efficient. They enforce acts well and are pretty open about what they are doing. The government is just a little disorganized with it’s elections and many times citizens don’t have a say in what affects them.
Rachael Chan
ReplyDeleteE Block
A.) In the article, the author, Juliette Jowit demonstrates a sense of fear at the “long-term terminal decline” of democracy in Britain. The author suggests that through the growth of corporations’ power, politicians become less representative of their constituencies. As seen in the “Party Membership” illustration, the Conservative Party, who has the most membership in 2000 with more than three hundred thousand members, begins to decline steadily from 2000 to 2010. From 2000 to 2008, membership in the Labour Party has drastically declined. Membership in the Liberal Democratic Party has been steady from 2000 to 2010, with no drastic increase or decrease. This, in turn, causes citizens to stop voting on current affairs. Although democratic aspects in the UK have declined, there have been many positive advances over the past ten years. A report by Democratic Audit notes stronger select committees of MPs holding ministers and civil servants accountable. There has also been a transfer of power to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and publication of more information about politicians’ expenses and party donors. However, evidence proves that Britain has moved further away from a representative democracy. There has been less control over political decision making and a prejudiced system that reflects the population it represents. According to the “Standards of Conduct” graph, legitimacy has drastically decreased since 2004. In 2010, 33% of the population voted standards of conduct in public life to be high. In six years, the percentage of population who thought the standards of conduct in public life were low increased from 2% to 23%. This reveals that a majority of the population are beginning to lose faith in the government’s ability to rule in their best interest.
B.) The article, “’Bungled’ Police and Crime Commissioner Election Failed Voters” reveals the lack voters at elections due to poor communication between the candidates and the voters. Results from surveys show that 88% of the population felt that awareness of elections were low. A study by the Electoral Reform Society reveal that voters were left in the dark about who they could vote for, while candidates were kept away by huge deposits, unclear eligibility rules, vast electoral districts and high campaign costs. This proves the hindering democratic progress of the UK. The policy was designed to reconnect the public and the police. Yet, nearly 90% of the population have no idea who their elected police and crime commissioner is.
C.) A true democracy is in action when the people control the government. As much as the UK government tries to communicate with its citizens, I don’t believe that it is a true democracy. In the first article, Juliette Jowit states that a representative democracy, at the core, has to be about people voting, about people engaging in political parties, about people having contact with elected representatives and having faith in the elected representatives. Both articles prove that the UK lacks legitimacy and transparency. The second article provides evidence of the lack of communication between elected commissioners and voters. Nearly 90% of voters in England and Wales have no idea who their police and crime commissioner is.
I agree with Rachel's last point I think that the involvement of the people is necessary for a full true democracy however I don't believe that this would necessarily make up a "good" or "stable" government if all the power is put in the people's hands.
DeleteI agree with Rachael. The UK's government is loosing communication with their people, in a democracy, the government has to assure to the people the decisions they make for the nation is the best, but if their is no communication, the people would be foreign to the government and won't know what to vote for.
DeleteShantel Rowe D-Block
ReplyDeleteA)In Juliette Jowitt's article“British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“, she explores the shift of democracy in the U.K as the nation is no longer considered as democratic in recent years.A study is mentioned indicating that democracy in the U.K has reached a long term terminal decline as most of the power in politics is now consolidated into various corporations,politicians lose site of their roles as representatives.Thus citizens themselves become uninterested in voting or political participation that they may feel don't represent their constituencies.In addition to this analysis two graphic charts are given, the first displays Party Membership of the UK's three main parties.I took notes on the decline in membership for both the Conservative and Labour parties. As well as a slight increase in membership for the Labour party in 2009, most likely in part to the leave of PM, Tony Blair. However it appears as if the Liberal Democrats have remained constant in membership displayed. In the "Standards of Conduct" chart, legitimacy in the U.K is also shown to decrease since 2004,therefore the thought of government doing a "bad" job has increased.While the non democratic aspects of the U.K democracy include growing power of corporations,controversy surrounding politician expenses,and control over political decision making. However there are some democratic practices in place such as the growing of smaller parties which give smaller groups a say.Yet the author points out that new concerns are continuing to emerge and overall there is this disconnect between the people and the parties because the parties no longer show effort for the people.
B)In a similar article "Bedroom tax: ministers given 14 days to make case against judicial review" by Haroon Siddique democracy in the U.K comes into play regarding the "bedroom tax" which will ultimately move people from their homes in an effort to limit overpopulation in overcrowded areas. However this hinders the democratic progression because the tax isn't being mutually agreed upon by all parties involved. Some also feel as if the tax doesn't fairly take into account all constituencies hence not every voice is being "heard" in a way. This displays the sort of undemocratic action of certain political figures as some of the individuals involved suffer from mental and physical debilitating disorders.
C)In my opinion the UK doesn't represent a "true" democracy mainly in part to the three factors of a democracy. In a democracy you find that efficacy is present and concise. Efficacy can display how well a political body is listening to its people because based on the bills passed, certain constituencies can see where they stand with politicians. Another factor would be transparency and how open the government is with people. While press in the U.K can publicly cover controversial stories surrounding politicians and even dig into their expenses which can expose illegitimate practices, the government in the U.K isn't 100% open on why certain issues are prevalent within politics. Lastly the legitimacy of the government is clearly weakening as presented in the first article, people simply don't have faith in their government anymore because of the growth of power favoring those who may be higher up or privileged. I do believe that the U.K has the potential to model a true democracy however it would come at the cost of power for certain key figures.
Kaitlyn Conroy
ReplyDeleteA-Block
A) After reading the article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report” by Juliette Jowitt I learned about why democracy is believed to be currently declining in the UK. According to the article and its graphics, power of corporations in the UK keep growing, and as they do politicians are becoming less representative of their constituencies resulting in a halt of citizens voting and talking about current affairs. Although there have been many positive advances in the UK over the last 10 years politically, Britain seems to be moving father away from a representative democracy, since only 6 out of 10 eligible voters went to the poll in the 2010 general election. The author believes this is due to the idea of disillusionment, and the graphs reflect this as well. Party membership in the UK has declined in both the Conservative and Labour parties, which has benefitted the Liberal Democrats, who seem steady in party membership. The second graph represents Standards of Conduct in the UK, which is the overall perception of standards in public life in the UK. This graph shows that legitimacy, which is the extent to which citizens of a country believe in their government’s ability to rule in their self interest, is on the decline and the majority of those who are unsatisfied with the way government is being run is increasing. In summary, both graphs and this article reflect how legitimacy, efficacy, and transparency are lacking in the UK, resulting in less participation of citizens in government causing representative democracy to decline.
B) In the article “Childcare costs rising by more than twice the rate of inflation” by Haroon Siddlque is about how childcare costs in Britain are rising at more than twice the rate of inflation and has increased over the last 10 years. Child care is becoming a massive burden for parents, since its cost can be higher than their rent or mortgage payments. Many parents and those effected by childcare costs are voicing their complaints to their local constituencies, who are planning to petition the government with plans to make childcare less expensive by relaxing the number of pre-school children that nurseries and registered child-minders can oversee. However a report suggests that reducing the required ratios may diminish quality and have little effect on costs. This reform promotes democratic process because more citizens especially parents are beginning to discuss this matter with their elected representatives. Although, if this reform does not pass this could increase the lack of trust and faith citizens in the UK have in their elected representatives and in their government.
C) In conclusion, after studying UK politics in class and after reading these articles I do feel like the UK is a true democracy. The UK has taken awhile and has gone through different ages to evolve into a democracy. No democracy is perfect, even though a democracy is for the people there has to be some superiority in government in order to prevent chaos and keep things running smoothy, which the UK houses of government have been successful in doing. Even though legitimacy, efficacy, and transparency are on the decline, as long as citizens have a choice to vote and have the choice to voice their opinion they are living under a representative democracy. Overall, it is the citizen’s choice to whether they want to voice their opinion within government, and the beauty about democracy is that they can, and that change and reforms are always possible.
Melanie Seidel
ReplyDeleteE Block
A) In the article titled “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report,” Juliette Jowitt informs readers of a ten yearlong study of British democracy and its conclusions. Democracy in the UK seems to be drastically declining every year. Big corporations are growing in size and power, legitimacy is decreasing, and many citizens have ceased voting. They feel as though their constituencies are not being truly represented by their MPs. People are losing faith in the UK government and instability seems to be a perpetual trend. The transparency between citizens and the government is decreasing over time which is causing people to become disengaged. Graphic A titled “Party Membership” shows that the amount of members in the Conservative Party declined steadily from the year 2000 after the general election. The amount of members in the Labour Party drastically decreased, but began to incline during the year 2009 and the amount of members in the Liberal Democrats have remained steady. Graphic B titled “Standards of Conduct” show that legitimacy is drastically decreasing. Some democratic aspects of the UK government mentioned are citizens still having the right to vote, MPs representing the voice of the people (somewhat), and citizens being able to express their disappointment in their government. Some non-democratic aspects included are the decline in transparency and efficacy and growing corporations. The author, Juliette Jowitt, believes the UK democracy is on the decline because it has stopped listening to its people. The citizens feel as though their requests are not being heard therefore they should not bother voicing their opinions any longer.
B) In the article titled “Ed Balls dominates Labour party as supporters pack frontbench,” the Conservative party refers to Ed Balls, member of the Labour party in the UK government, as a “brownite cabal.” This nickname classifies Ed Balls as a supporter of Gordon Brown, leader of the Labour party, who is uniting with his fellow members to gain citizens’ support. A list has emerged of how every Labour MP voted in the 2010 leadership contest. This list proves that 51% of Balls’ voters now sit on the frontbench. He has ensured that many of his voters will be rewarded. His supporters dominate more than half of the frontbench. Ed Balls surely goes the extra mile to commend his supporters on their votes. This reform definitely promotes democratic progress. His rewards may motivate citizens to vote more often and in his favor.
C) I believe that the UK is a democracy, but a corrupt one at that. The transparency between its people and government is not as active and clear as it should be. Legitimacy is definitely declining as people lose more and more faith in their government. Some efficacy is present while politicians are aware of the people’s concerns, but may not be taking immediate action to solve the problems.
The article “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report” by Juliette Jowit is about how democracy in Britain is declining. There is less representation of constituencies, disillusioned citizens, less voting and more power to corporations which is all causing the decline of democracy. The number of people who view their government standards as very low or quite low is steadily increasing, meaning the number of people believing in their governments ability to rule and trust is decreasing in Britain. It seems like Britain is straying away from the core ideals of democracy, leading to instability in government and less voting rates among citizens. Based on the party membership graph, the most stable political party is the Liberal Democrats but it also shows that the Conservative party is the most popular in party membership even though it has been taking a slight dip. In all Britain has not been meeting the standards of a functioning democracy and needs improvement.
ReplyDeleteThe article “Government to legislate for plain cigarette packaging this year” by Patrick Wintour, discusses the steps that parliament is taking in order to reduce smoking in younger generations throughout the U.K. The legislation is said to ban smoking in cars carrying anyone under the age of sixteen and will change the packaging, introducing plain packaging after becoming convinced that a key factor to why young people smoke is the branding/ packaging. The legislation, to be announced in May, is following the example of Australia and is intended to improve the health of citizens in Britain. This reform promotes democratic progress because the government is creating laws that will help the general well being of the citizens and requires people to get involved in implementing this legislature.
Over all, I do not think that the U.K is a true democracy because it lacks some of the central ideals that are required for a true democratic government. There are several issues that need to be improved before the U.K can be considered a true democracy, for example there legitimacy and efficacy. The graph shown in the article “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report” prove that peoples faith and trust in their governments ability to rule has decreased significantly. With more work and advancements the U.K can be a true democracy that considers and represents all of their citizens.
Tiffany Eng
ReplyDeleteA Block
A)In “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report”, the author believes the UK Democracy is on the decline. Citizens are starting to not vote and discuss current affairs while politicians are being representative less. Although there has been many positive advances over the ten years, Britain had moved away from representative democracy. This is caused by the control of political decision making and the voting of the people. There is a voting gap rate between the different social classes. According to the party membership chart, the amount of Conservatives started to decrease in 2006, the Labour membership increased in 2009 and the Lid Dem had a slight increase in 2009. According to the standards of conduct chart, the standard for ‘quite low’ increased while the standard for ‘quite high’ decreased. This can say the standards of the public life in the UK might be worse. I agree with the quote “And without mass political participation, the sense of disconnection between citizens and their representatives will inevitably grow”. If citizens in the UK do not participate in voting, the representatives will not know what they want. There would be a lack of legitimacy and transparency. There is less communication which leads to the government being unable to rule in their best interest. The amount of election turnout and membership of political parties has declined over the last decade. Topics like health, education, social security and the environment interest the public but political parties is not one. Compared to other wealthy democracies in OECD, the EU and Nordic countries, Britain was ranked below average.
B)The article “’Bungled’ police and crime commissioner election failed voters” hinders the democratic process. The election in November had been one of the lowest turnout in peacetime history. About 90% of the voters in England and Wales didn’t know who the police and commissioners were. 45% of non voters didn’t vote because they felt they weren’t informed enough. This is a lack of transparency. There is not enough communication between the officials and civilians. Therefore, legitimacy is lacking as well. Jenny Watson, the Electoral Commission chair, is hoping to engage potential voters by having easier access about the candidates.
C)A Democracy is when the government is ruled by the people through elected officials. Since citizens in Britain are not really participating to help the government, the UK is not a true democracy. UK needs to improve on legitimacy and transparency. As it said in the article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report”, there was a lack in political participation. There is a disconnection between citizens and their representatives. Hopefully there will be improvements with the connection between citizens and representatives so legitimacy and transparency could improve as well.
Kaila Camara
ReplyDeleteA Block
Democracy in the UK is gradually declining as corporations overpower. UK democracy is slowly branching out and is subtly fading. Jowit strongly believes this idea, that all aspects of a democracy such as voting, participation in government institutions and activity. It has statistically been proven that public satisfaction of government actions and decisions have been declining as well. Britons' happiness and satisfaction have not been fulfilled the past few years.
The article, "Local democracy: the future looks bleak for political activism" by John Harris definitely hinders democratic progress. A labor party activist gets interviewed and touches upon the inadequate living standards, "problems with his bins, the lack of parking, bus lanes, the cost of replacing his windows, why Britain should get out of what he insists on calling "the EEC", and the crazy excesses of the 2012 Olympics" (Harris 1). Harris quotes the activist of all his issues that have come up- he blames UK democracy.
Ultimately, both of these articles continue to speak of Britons' standards in democracy not being met. Many people are unhappy and desire change. I believe that the UK definitely has the potential to be a prosperous democracy, however they have much to improve on and must make changes to satisfy Britons.
Joe Glessing
ReplyDeleteD Block
Democracy in the United Kingdom is declining and small businesses are being taken over by monster corporations. Jowit believes this, because peoples say in government has declined over the past few years. People are not voting and getting involved with the government as much as they once did. People are becoming fed up with the government and would rather not even participate with the way the country is being ran.
An article that can support and compare to this one would be the article "Bedroom tax: ministers given 14 days to make case against judicial review" by Haroon Siddique. In this article, people were forced from their homes from the government and their rights were being violated. This can someone relate to the fact that people are losing their right and faith in government, because people are unhappy with the way their country is being ran and would rather not get involved with the decisions mainly because they feel like their say would be meaningless and that the government is going to do what they please.
Some studies show that despite Britain's well-known status as a representative democracy, Britain is slowly moving away from that form of government. As corporations have become more powerful they have taken more control in the government, politicians are not doing a good job of representing their constituencies. The study notes that there have been positive advances for democracy as well in Britain, but also points out declines in representative democracy. As citizens feel they are not being correctly represented within government, the legitimacy of the government is decreasing. A representative government requires that citizens be active within government. Lately less voters have been showing up due to the lack of legitimacy. Over-time this lack of citizen participation "skews the political process yet further towards those who are already more advantaged by virtue of their wealth, education or professional connections", which will put middle class in an increasingly worse of position. Membership in political parties has also fallen, and "just over six out of 10 eligible voters went to the ballot box in the 2010 general election" which also shows citizens disinterest in their government. A report on the government dating back to 1996 showed 92 areas of concern for the authors of the study. one area of concern was the increasing power going to the other 3 regions of the UK. Also concerning was the increasing evidence of press harassment, electoral fraud and declining newspaper sales. In studies about multiple topics from party membership and turnout to corruption, Britain ranked low in comparison to other wealthy countries. This showed that the government was falling short. In order to help fix the declines in democracy professionals recommend having more elected officials in the House of Lords. They also agree that stronger powers for MPs to hold ministers to account, and a written document that promises large institutions like Electoral Commission would not be vulnerable to the whims of future governments would further help the cause.
ReplyDeleteI believe Britain is a true democracy. Along with America, the poor from many countries consider Britain to be a country of opportunity, which is evident in the amount of immigrants living in the country. Every country has issues with it's government, and Britain's democracy is one of the most democratic. Currently the government is successfully handling the country, often better than American democracy deals with our countries issues. In Britain healthcare is free for all citizens, which shows just another issue that British government has successfully taken care of. In Britain all citizen's over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, which in it's simplest form is the definition of democracy. If people are not taking advantage of their rights, that is not the national government's problem.
Sara Fischman
Alyssa Morganti
ReplyDeleteA Block
A) The article "British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report" by Juliette Jowitt determines why it is believed that democracy is currently reclining in the UK. Citizens have stopped taking a stand in their government by voting in affairs and politicians in the UK are less representative of their constituencies. Democratic aspects of this article is that people are choosing not to vote, a choice that is offered in a democracy, for the people are allowed to speak their mind or freely chose to keep to themselves. Also the fact that there are different political parties to represent the peoples' different opinions shows signs of democracy. A non democratic aspect of the UK democracy mentioned in the article is that the UK attempted to change the voting system closer to that of London, with directly elected mayors. The author believes UK democracy is on the decline because the vote standards have decreased and the standards of conduct in public life were voted to be high, showing signs of peoples' unhappiness within their government.
B) In the article entitled "Bedroom tax will make thousands of disabled people worse off" by Nicholas Watt, a recent disagreement between Ed Milliband and Prime Minister David Cameron is covered. Hundreds of thousands of citizens in the UK would lose averaged seven hundred euros a year under the bedroom tax. Miliband fought to exempt anyone in need of twenty four hour care. He also stated it's unfair that people on housing benefit in private rented accomadation don't get a spare room subsidy, but people in social housing are entitled to it. Cameron however, did not see eye to eye on the second part of the concept.
C) After reviewing these articles and studying the UK government in class, I have come to the conclusion that the UK is a true democracy. It's government meetings are broadcasted for all to see. The political parties grant people a say in their government and the overall definition of being able to voice their opinion is covered. The UK government is very open with it's people and that shows they are true democracy because not only are the UK citizens able to have a say, but their leaders openly discuss what is going on and involves their country's people in it as well.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA. The article, "British Democracy In Terminal Decline, Warns Report" states that the United Kingdom's democracy is on a decline. In the United Kingdom, political efficacy is leading people to believe less and less of what is going on in government. As major corporations keep expanding, representatives of their given constituencies are becoming less representative of the people. Less representation of the people, gives the people the impression that their rep. has lost sight of them and their opinions. Which then leads the "disillusioned" people, as described in the reading, to be less concerned with what is going on in government and rarely speak of current affairs and overall, do not go out to vote. The two charts given represent the major decline in party membership and standards of conduct. The conservative party as well as the Labour party has steadily decreased simultaneously over the years. Being that the UK government is a coalition government, all parties cooperate to avoid a tie in voting. The Liberal Democrats have stayed at a moderate number because their party membership has stayed relatively low since the beginning. Also, in the conduct chart, the numbers of both the orange and red lines are steadily increasing. Which means, the number of people who believe the standards of gov't are very high, is decreasing and the number of people who believe the standards of gov't are very low, is increasing. Not a very good sign for the United Kingdom's government.
ReplyDeleteB. In the second article “’Bungled’ Police And Crime Commissioner Election Failed Voters” stated that the people have no idea of who their police and crime commissioner is. After reading this article, I believe that this has hindered the democratic movement in many ways because of lack of transparency in government. The people of the UK had barely turned out to directly vote for their police and crime commissioner. In November, an election for the police and crime commissioner was held, which cost 75 million pounds. Although, 90% of the voters had no idea who their commissioner was when asked. The ERS stated that this was the lowest turnout in history, despite the high campaign costs. People that were voting had no idea who they were voting for because of the lack of information given. 88% stated that the awareness of the elections was “low”. 63% stated that it was “very low” and 45% of non-voters stated that they had very little information to make a decision. It only goes to show that the lack of legitimacy and efficacy of the people in government can change a lot. It seems as if the only one in government looking to make change is Jenny Watson. She states she is hoping to make it easier for citizens of the UK to understand whom the candidates are when voting.
C. I believe that the UK is a true democracy. I believe this because in definition, Democracy is a form of a government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. In the United Kingdom, the people have a right to state what they feel needs to be changed. This is the reasoning behind having a representative for each constituency. Also, the public participate sin government in reforming laws, making laws, etc. This democracy lacks in legitimacy, efficacy and transparency, but so do most governments in the world. Democracy gives people a say in government, the people have that because of their representative. Although the people do not engage in political parties and have open say in Parliament chambers, they have elected the people that will best represent them.
In the Article "British Democracy In Terminal Decline, Warns Report" By Juliette Jowitt talks about how the British Democracy is currently declining. UK democracy is slowly branching out and is subtly fading. Citizens have stopped taking a stand in their government by voting in affairs and politicians in the UK are less representative of their constituencies. The Party Membership graph shows the membership of the UK’s three main political parties. The party membership has declined in the Conservative and Labour parties but in 2009 the labour party increased slightly. The third party on the graph, the Liberal Democrats, stayed the same throughout the years.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Bedroom tax will make thousands of disabled people worse off" by Nicholas Watt, a recent disagreement between Ed Milliband and Prime Minister David Cameron is covered. Hundreds of thousands of citizens in the UK would lose averaged seven hundred euros a year under the bedroom tax. it's unfair that people on housing benefit in private rented accomadation don't get a spare room subsidy, but people in social housing are entitled to it. Cameron however, did not see eye to eye on the second part of the concept.
I believe that the UK is a true democracy but it is a corrupt one.
Paul Montanaro – Gov’t Blog
ReplyDeleteIn the article from The Guardian entitled ‘’ British democracy in terminal decline, warns report” an author from the British Audit states that democracy in the UK is not what it used to be. In the graphs specifically we can see how the two parties of the coalition government have very different trends in party membership. The majority party at this time is the Conservative party which over the course of 10 years has dropped from somewhere near 400,000 member to just under 200,000 members. This is very different from their partner the Liberal Democrats has stayed very close to 92,000 members. This could be important because when the votes are tallied the Tory party could have many different outcomes than anticipated whereas the Liberal Democrats have stayed very close to the same. In the second graph we can see that the perception of the government by people in the United Kingdom is hurting greatly. The number of people that view standards as very high have dropped 45 to around 32. This is the opposite of the number of people that view the standards as very low has risen from 11 to around 22. This graph shows a great drop in the efficacy of the Governments of the U.K. for the last 6 years. In summary overall this article is has many concepts that are very democratic and non-democratic. First off a very non-democratic concept in the U.K. is that where 3/5 of voters turn out for the 2010 general election when a local or European election only brings out 1/3 of all eligible voters. This is a cause for concern but a very good democratic portion of the United Kingdom is the fact that there are very many parties represented in the Parliament of the UK, this includes the green party, which gained its first MP in the general election of 2010. Overall the author believes that democracy is on the decline because since the last audit has included 62 new concerns as to why democracy is failing in the U.K.
In the second article I read entitled “Cameron in veiled attack on Labour over NHS Mid Staffordshire report” there were many questions that have had a be answered by the PM about a recent scandal that involved that National Health Service, its Minister Sir David Nichols has not been made a scapegoat by the PM or the shadow health minister. All three men hope to put the scandal that included the loss of lives behind them and focus on getting back to business. This is an article that in my opinion shows progress in the democratic process because it has not been shoved under the rug or blamed on a specific person. This shows a great amount of Transparency in the modern day government of the commonwealth.
In my opinion the United Kingdom is not a true democracy because some of the key ideals associated with a modern democracy are not seen. Most obviously is the fact that only one house is voted by the people and that shows a lower level of transparency in government. This may be subjective in that experts are always selected to advise committees as Lords or Lady’s but at the same time a high ranking member of a certain political party could be appointed to Peerages as to ensure the passing of laws still have a small bias towards the majority. The shadow ministers in the U.K. hinder efficacy because they question all decisions made by the government, and sometimes the ends must justify the means when it comes to heads of government. Legitimacy is also hurt severely in the U.K. by the seemingly yearly scandals that affect the House of Commons. This is why the U.K. is easily not seen as a true modern democracy.
Lucinda S. Martinez
ReplyDeleteBlock A
A) In the article, “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“, it discusses how there's a decline in the government representation. As corporate powers increase politicians seem to be losing the support of the people. According to the graphs, party memberships for both the Conservative and Labour party have declined over the past ten years. Based on voter turn outs, there have been fewer people participating in general elections. Many people have very little faith in parliament. They believe that government isn't performing to the needs of the people. In fact many believe that living standards have gotten worst, instead of improving. In the 2010 election about 6 out of 10 eligible voters actually went to the ballots.
B) In the article,"Labour to address voters' immigration concerns after East Leigh by-election", the Labour Party's make an effort to inform potential voters about their position on certain issues such as migration and living standards. The article addresses the budget cuts that have been enacted by the Conservative party. The article also mentions how struggling jobs market has affected my young people. Based on the information provided by this article, it can be inferred that these actions taken by the Labour party prove that the UK Parliament has democratic values. The Labour party is attempting to be more transparent about its position in government, while making sure the Conservative Party keeps its promises. In a democratic government it is the jobs of elected officials to keep the public informed on policy.
C) I believe that the United Kingdom is not a true democracy, because it lacks support for the people. There is a lack of legitimacy, and transparency. Although the UK holds elections, because the people don't have faith in the government’s ability to create laws that'll fix the country's problems; voting turn out have declined. The fact that the House of Lords is comprised of people that aren't elected, but appointed is also another example of the UK's undemocratic views.
I agree with Lucinda that the UK is not a true democracy because of the lack of legitimacy and transparency in the government.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA) The article " British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report." by Juliette Jowit states that democratic views and actions are declining. People are not engaging themselves in political parties. The article states that when people don't participate in political events the connection between the country's citizens and representatives become further apart.
ReplyDeleteB) In the article Bungled police and crime commissioner election failed voters" by Alan Travis shows how separate the citizens are from their representatives. It is important that the government learns how to interact with their citizens. The main reason there are so many not voters is because they don't have enough information to make such a big decision that can effect their country.
C) Even though the UK enforces voting and equality, their citizens lack democratic views. If the connection between the representatives and citizens grew then voting would be more popular and make it more of a democracy.
Salvatore Sicilia
ReplyDelete0-Block
A) Non-Democratic aspects of the UK democracy found in the article would be that the UK’s control over political decision making and how fairly the system reflects the population it represents “a principle most powerfully embedded in the concept of one person, one vote.” From databases of official statistics and public surveys, were that Britain’s constitutional arrangements are “increasingly unstable” owing to changes such as devolution. Because of this the government’s efficacy for the people has been going down, and they are becoming increasingly worried because of this. There has been an unpredicted decline in the voting age groups and an incline in corporate power. This “threatens to undermine some of the most basic principles of democratic decision making. Some democratic views of the UK democracy are people are somewhat voting and trying to be heard. Whatever votes they get help the government fix what’s wrong but still with the low turnouts the UK democracy is starting to fail. The conservative and Labour parties are going downward and the liberal democrats are staying consistent.
B) In the article “2012 Democratic Audit: British Democracy in Terminal Decline.” Democratic process is hindered. Because of the poor voting turnouts and the number of significant amount of problems brought up by the people, the democracy isn’t moving forward at all. Broken down by social groups, the voting is still going lower. People are loosing their efficacy for the government and in turn not wanting to vote because they feel the government can’t even handle a democracy.
C) The UK democracy is a democracy, but not a very strong one at all. The government lacks transparency with its people and that is what makes the people not feel safe and in turn not vote. I think if the government was more open with its people they could trust the government more and that would help the people vote.
Mark Magrone – D Block
ReplyDeleteComparative government blog 3
A) In the article "British Democracy In Terminal Decline, Warns Report" Juliette Jowitt explains why democracy in Britain is on a terminal decline. The main two reasons are that corporations are growing in power and leaders and politicians aren’t trying to participate in government activities. This has lead to a decrease in voting from the people of the United Kingdom. Both the Labor and Conservative party have faced a decline in members over the last ten years, while the Liberal Democratic kept it at a slight increase. This shows that there is less legitimacy in the government among the people of the United Kingdom.
B) In the article, “’Bungled’ Police and Crime Commissioner Election Failed Voters”, the author states that the small amount of voters at police and crime commissioner elections can be contributed to the lack of communication between the candidates and the voters. Surveys show that 88% of the population of the United Kingdom feel that interests in elections were at an all time low. A study by the Electoral Reform Society revealed that voters did not know nearly enough about who they could vote for. Candidates were unable to make themselves known because of large deposits, unclear and confusing eligibility rules, large electoral districts and high campaign costs. Furthermore, the democratic progress in the UK is hindering candidates from obtaining voters. The policy was designed to reconnect the public and the police. However, an alarming near 90% of the population of the UK have no idea who their elected police and crime commissioner is.
C) Overall, the United Kingdom is not a true democracy. This is partially due to the fact that the Queen signs her consent on new laws. Although this is based on tradition and the Queen always signs the documents, it keeps the UK from becoming a true democracy. Also, Ping Pong the bouncing back and forth of bills between the House of Lords and House of Commons, is preventing any changes from being made. Another factor keeping them from becoming a true democracy is legitimacy. The majority of citizens say that they feel their government is not doing a good job keeping their word. However, the one thing that is truly democratic is transparency. The United Kingdom is one of the leading countries in making their business publicly viewable online.
John D’onofrio A Block
ReplyDeleteA) This article is about a study illustrating the decline of Britain’s representative democracy. The study warns people of corporations influence over the government growing, politicians not properly representing their constituencies, and a sharp decline in voter turnout and disillusionment. The report was published by Democratic Audit,and despite the negative results, there appear to be some positives. The study finds: stronger select committees of MPs holding ministers and civil servants to account,devolution of power to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and publication of much more information about politicians' expenses and party donors. All of these are good signs, however they may not be enough. The balance of the Britons democracy seems to be moving towards low numbers of legitimacy, and declining transparency due to corporate interest in politics. Graphs published by the report indicate citizens are not registering to become involved with political parties, and believe that standards of public life are becoming low. One could infer that people are unhappy with their current state of government, and seem to have lost faith in politics. a democratic institution does not exist if the citizens do not take any interest in government, a threat Britain may be facing. the study ranked Britain below average compared to other democratic nations in the OECD and Eu; and even worse when measured against Scandinavian countries for issues such as party membership, voter turnout, corruption, press freedom, income inequality and trade union membership. Such news does not bode well for the future of democracy in The U.K.
The author believes democracy in the U.K. is in decline because people are no longer taking part in their own government. This is possibly the worst threat for any democratic institution to face, simply because it is quite difficult to solve. Previous attempts to drum up interest by holding referendum on the future of the general election, failed with only a 46 percent voter turnout. If the people refuse to uphold democratic values, the government will slowly erode, possibly into another system such as an oligarchy.
C) I believe the U.K. is a true democracy. Citizens in the U.K. elect representatives to serve in their government, and is therefore by one definition a democracy. As long as people vote (the votes have to count of course) on who will represent them in government, I believe it is then a democracy. Some may argue it is not a democracy because the will of the majority is not being illustrated in the polls, because of such low turnout. However I believe this is false because most legislation is passed by representatives who have earned their seat by popular majority in their own constituency, and therefore represent the will of the majority. The U.K. is a democratic government because it mostly has democratic ideals in its structure.
Kathy Cuevas
ReplyDeleteD- Block
A)In the article, "British democracy in terminal decline, warns report", the author, Juliette Jowit, discusses how the level of democracy in the UK is decreasing. She talks about how voter turn out and a dramatic increase in corporations is affecting the government. Although the corporations do play a part in the downturn of democracy in the UK, the biggest factor is the voter turnout. Fewer and fewer people are turning out to vote which is greatly affecting the way the country in run. Many people are dissatisfied with the way the country is led and yet, when given the chance to vote for people who will help change the government, they don't go out to vote because they believe that their vote doesn't matter or won't help to change anything. This information is seen displayed in the two graphs.
B)"Bedroom tax: ministers given 14 days to make case against judicial review" by Haroon Siddique. This article is about some people who are trying to get a judicial review about a new law concerning bedroom tax saying that it is unfair to disabled children. The new law which is to take into effect on April 1st, mandates that children of the same gender who are 16 and older must share a room and that children 10 and younger must share a room regardless of gender. This is the only way that housing benefits will be payable. This reform does promote democratic principles because it shows that if the people do not agree with a specific law, they have the right to protest it and bring it to court.
C)Overall, I think that the UK is a true democracy. A democracy allows for the people to have a say, and in this government they do although it seems that recently people have not been taking advantage of it.
Melany Yuin
ReplyDeleteA-Block
A) Juliette Jowitt’s article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report” emphasizes the deterioration of Britain’s claimed democracy. According to the article, the government’s reputation is not in favour of the citizens and many of them have no motivation to vote anymore. Although Britain claims to have a representative democracy, many of the citizens needs have not been met and the government’s transparency is low. Based on the Standards of Conduct graph provided, people’s negative view of standards has drastically shot up in 2006-2010 from 10% to over 20%, and those who viewed it quite high have slowly changed their opinion. The Party Membership graph shows the membership in the Conservative Party dropping lower that both Labour and Lib-Dem Parties, losing about 100 members. Since people do not trust their government as much since 2000, many of them haven’t been voting, therefore, leading to the decline of members in the Tory Party. Jowitt believes that the UK’s democracy is declining because of the lack of trust between the government and the people. If more people continue to stop voting, the disconnection between the people and government will continue to widen, and perhaps may not be mended.
B) In “Votes at 16: 'we can marry, pay taxes and join the army, so why not vote?”, authored by Grant Costello, the author touches upon the issues of voting rights amongst teens in Scotland. Prime Minister David Cameron recently signed the Edinburgh Agreement, allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote on Scotland’s constitutional future. Costello, the author, believes that young people should be recognized as responsible adults and they should be able to vote because it’s their future also. They have different perspective on public services, so education and public transportation can be strongly represented through the younger voters. This reform strongly promotes democratic progress because the government recognizes the younger generation as responsible adults and gains more outlook on society through a younger person’s eyes.
C) In my opinion, there is no such thing as a true democracy. However, the UK can be quite close to it. Although most people living in Britain think that the government is failing them, the majority of the voters are older people and for that reason, the government doesn’t have a wide diversity of ages. Since the voting age in Scotland has dropped to 16/17, the government can gain a new perspective on what the public needs. For those who are younger, they would focus more on education and improvements in public transportation. Younger voters’ enthusiasm can also contribute to the potential rise of numbers of representatives in Parliament. More necessities of the people can be met if more people are voting, and the majority of the voters can be the new Scottish 16/17 year olds.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSamantha Escobedo
DeleteBlock E
I agree with Melany in the sense that UK is fairly close to being a democracy. Although, the people have lost faith in their government, they still have a say in their government and that there is a sign of democracy. The fact that the people aren't taking advantage of their voting status is their problem not the actual governments problem.
Skyler Malchiodi D- Block
ReplyDeletea)In the article “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report” the main discussion is that the UK democracy is lacking in meeting the needs of the people. However, they did mention some good points, for instance there has been stronger members of parliament and also there is more information on what their politicians are spending their money on and their party donors. There is a sense of conflict though, like in any government that holds more than one part, there are going to be disagreements and things that are not solved based on constant debate.”What I find really troubling is there's no...... the economy, the future of our health, education and social care systems, our environment ...but there's a disconnect when it comes to party politics." Said Sadiq Khan who is now the shadow justice secretary. In the two graphs, the first graph labeled “Party Membership” there is an obvious decline with the Labour party and Conservative party. As for the second graph it concludes that the amount of people think that the government has done a bad job has increased since 2004. Basically the article, is saying that the UK democracy is doing an okay job at representing their constituencies.
b)In the Article “Secret courts plan faces Commons vote” it discusses the debate going on inside parliament about a new bill being passed in order to expand the use of secret courts. There is a split because many say it is necessary while others totally disagree. Since the UK government is supposed to be a democracy, secret courts could not exist legally within the parameters of a democracy. There should be certain requirements that the court should follow in order to hold transparency amongst their people. There has been some argument with this but it will come down to the commons votes, the article displayed many peoples opinion, one being this "We urge the government to think again and make sure secret proceedings are used only in cases of pressing national security need, and are the last possible resort." which was said by Hywel Francis who is a committee chair person. Only time will tell but if this bill does pass, the UK government will most likely loose more support from there people in the constituencies.
c)Based on the two articles that I have read, I believe that the UK government is trying to provide a true democracy but it is not working. It is not working because of the different opinions and loosing the focus that the people are their main responsibility. It seems that the UK government lacks in the Legitimacy, Transparency and Efficacy. They need to improve on working harder to meet the needs of their people instead of wasting time. The Prime Minister David Cameron has been their for about three years now and things haven't gotten much better although with a new Prime Minster comes new ideas and leadership. The UK government which is a parliament has the potential to become one of the best but they need to work together and focus on the needs of the people.
Juliana Zaloom - D Block
ReplyDeleteA) This article highlights the main reasons why the British government seems to be declining. England’s government is a parliamentary democracy as well as a ceremonial monarchy. Because of the growth of corporations throughout the United Kingdom, politicians that are involved in decision making within the government are becoming less and less concerned with their constituencies which is causing the voting rate amongst citizens decrease. Although there have been circumstances where nations within the UK are gaining more independence due to devolution, such as Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, the decreased party membership and the lower perception of conduct in UK life indicate that the level of legitimacy between the government and its people has gone down. It seems that with the devolution exhibited in these countries, Britain is slowly moving away from its standards of democracy. This idea is supported because of the political control over decision making and unfair representation of the British population. We can tell that people aren’t staying involved with governmental decisions due to the lower party membership rate which is also reflected by the increase in poor perception of the standards of conduct in the UK. Even though the UK seems to be veering away from democracy, there are still ways that they are classified as one. For example, there are voting privileges in every constituency which make it possible for even the most far away UK citizens to participate in government.
B) In the article, “Bedroom tax 'will make thousands of disabled people £700 worse off,” the author discusses a recent disagreement between Prime Minister, David Cameron, and opposition party leader, Ed Milliband. Cameron proposed a tax that would leave many disabled citizens £700 poorer each year. This tax reduces the housing benefit for those who need to live in social housing and have spare bedrooms. In order to try and compromise with Cameron, Milliband proposed the idea that anyone who required 24 hour care should be exempt from this subsidy. This situation promotes the democratic process. By compromising, the main parties of Parliament are able to combine their ideas to make the people and the government happy.
C) Overall, the UK seems like a true democracy, even if it is lacking in some democratic values. People in the UK still have the right to vote and even if they don’t utilize it during voting times, that doesn’t mean that they weren’t offered the option. Voting rates might have decreased recently because voters might feel that their representatives in Parliament represent their constituency’s wishes fairly enough so it isn’t necessary for them to vote. Although the levels of legitimacy might not be as high as they should be in this democracy, the people still have a say, which makes this government fair and democratic.
I agree with what Juliana said about the UK's democracy. I too, agree that the UK is still a democracy regardless of lacking in democratic values. I haven't considered it in my response but one of the main aspects of still being a democratic government is the right to vote. Though the people may not decide to vote, they still have the option which retains the UK's democratic government.
DeleteSamantha Escobedo
ReplyDeleteE Block
A) In “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report” by Juliette Jowit, she discusses the effects of poor legitimacy within the UK government and how it is leading to a decline in the number of votes. As shown in the “Party Membership” the conservatives have the most members. However, it has declined steadily ever since 2006. The labor party started to incline by 2009 after Gordon Brown replaced Tony Blair. On contrast the liberal democrats although they were low, they had no party change and stayed steadily the same. This shows the strength of the party and how the views were never really compromised. In “Standards of Conduct” the graph measures legitimacy within the UK. The legitimacy has dramatically decreased within the UK government. Although citizens know that they can vote for their prime minister, they feel that their vote won’t make a difference in government. In the end government works on it’s own and forgets about the people’s needs. When legitimacy within a government is compromised, the government is bound for a downfall.
C) I believe the UK is a democracy all in all. The UK demonstrates democracy for one by allowing the citizens to vote. This allows people to participate in government and let them elect the most popular candidate. Although, the people don’t have a strong sense of legitimacy with their government, the UK can still be consider a democracy. Although, the UK is tricameral, they have the same set up in government as the US where each “house” kind of checks with each other to not have too much power. This demonstrates a strong type of democracy where the transparency of government is seen and each House is respected, making sure to keep the needs of the citizens in mind.
A)
ReplyDeleteIn the article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report”, the author, Juliette Jowit, writes about how democracy in the U.K is beginning to diminish due to some of its failure to fulfill the peoples’ needs. The author writes that because of the power of industrialization, it has overcome the representative duties of politicians.
The people of the U.K. can vote for the person that represents their constituency. However, time and time again, they have experienced that their representatives haven’t acted in the interest of the people. These experiences has led to citizens not wanting to vote because they feel they are not represented in government the proper way, even if they were to vote. A good indication of these feelings is presented in the graphs “Standards of Conduct”. On the graph “Standards of Conduct”, it is shown that the number of people who have faith in the government has declined. It also shows how the number of people who don’t support the government has risen.
In the graph “Party Membership” it shows that the members of the Conservative and Labour Parties have gone down in the past few years, showing some kind of conflict within the government.
C) Overall, I believe that the U.K is not actually a true democracy. A reason for this would be that it is a tri-cameral government. One branch being the Queen and her having the need to ‘sign off’ on laws. Another reason would be that the people do not vote for their Prime Minister or House of Lords. The U.K government is having trouble with Legitimacy because the citizens have stopped voting and have lost faith in their government. Transparency seems to not be an issue because the people know that nothing is being done for them and the government is addressing that and attempting to fix it.
Briana Cotugno
ReplyDeleteD- Block
A.) The article, “British Democracy in Terminal Decline Warns Report” by Juliette Jowit explains that the government in the United Kingdom is becoming less and less legitimate. This is because the people are starting to doubt the government. Corporate power is beginning to rise and this is turning the nation into a less representative democracy therefore putting democracy on the decline. The people are losing interest in politics and every year fewer people show up to vote. In 2010 the country had a rare referendum and only 46% of the people showed up to vote. The people are starting to doubt the government and showing less of an interest, which is putting democracy in danger. It is visible in the “Party Membership” graph on the article that the Conservative party has gone down drastically since 2000 and the Labour has also gone down since then. The Liberal Democrat party has stayed relatively the same since 2000. The “Standards of Conduct” graph shows that the amount of people in the UK who view the standards as very high has decreased since 2004 and the number of people who view them as very low has increased since 2004.
B.) In the article “Bedroom Tax: Ministers Given 14 Days to Make Case Against Judicial Review” by Haroon Siddlque talks about a new tax regulating and requiring siblings to share bedrooms. Children under the age of sixteen of the same gender will share a room and children ten and under no matter what gender will share a room with their siblings. This tax is being used to help prevent overpopulating however this tax can have a negative effect on children with disabilities. For example children with Down’s syndrome can put their siblings at risk of abuse. Evidence supporting this claim was submitted by The National Autistic Society and Contact a Family. This tax has been challenged against Iain Duncan Smith on behalf of ten disabled and vulnerable children. The events explained in this article are not promoting democracy. This actually hinders democracy. This is because the tax is not fully agreed upon by everyone. The tax itself violates the people’s rights just because they have an extra bedroom.
C.) Overall the United Kingdom is not a true democracy. In a true democracy there is transparency, legitimacy, and efficacy. This means that the government doesn’t hide things from the people, the people believe in their country, and the government does the things that it promised the people. In the UK the people have been losing interest in the government and voting has decreased. This information was shown in the first article entitled “British Democracy in Terminal Decline Warns Report”. I agree with Rachel Chan when she says that in a true democracy the people control the government. I believe this is true and that the people in the UK have the ability to have some say in the government but they are unhappy with the way it is run and they have minimal interest so they don’t vote and don’t give their opinion/say. This is not good for the government and has resulted in the UK losing sight of its democratic ways.
Nancy Che (Block E)
ReplyDeleteA. Discussed in Juliette Jowitt’s article, “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report,” democracy is declining to a “long term terminal” end as a result of increasing corporate powers. The trust in the UK’s government is declining, indicating that the level of legitimacy is also declining. People feel that the politicians aren’t representing them anymore, as a result, a loss in faith and votes from their fellow citizens. As seen in the two graphics, party members continue to decline for over a decade. Meanwhile, the number of people evaluating the standards of conduct that the efficacy and legitimacy is worsening has been increasing from 2004-2010. To be considered a democracy, the author believes it is all about the people participating in their government and voting. However, the recent decline in voting has been causing the gap between voter’s social classes to widen. The UK’s government is strong so they have been able to continue on as a democracy with dwindling votes but the author predicts that it can’t last forever. Eventually, Britain won’t be a democracy anymore if political decisions are made while being unaware of the people’s desires and concerns. Statisticians say, “Membership of political parties and election turnout has fallen significantly in the last decade, with only 1% of the electorate belonging to a party, and just over six out of 10 eligible voters going to the ballot box in the 2010 general election and barely one in three in European and local elections.” Numerous concerns continue to arise faster than they are resolved. Last year, only 42% voted on changing the voting system for general elections while 8 out of 9 cities in England rejected direct mayor voting. Democracy continues to fall apart as the people either no longer have interest in their government politics or is being misrepresented.
B. In Alan Travis’ article, “’Bungled’ police and crime commissioner election failed voters,” the government’s level of transparency has been displayed as a failure—90% of the people didn’t even know who their police and crime commissioner was even after spending £75m. The government’s advertisement efforts were futile, resulting in the lack of voting awareness. It was reported that the people were referred to visit a website and the only other way of raising the election’s awareness was an “appallingly prejudiced and stereotyped” advertising campaign; 98% of the candidates preferred a post mailed advertisement. On a poll, only 11% could correctly name their local commissioner which is “fewer than the 15% who bothered to vote.” In a different survey, studies reveal that 88% felt awareness levels on the election were “low” while 63% thought it was “very low.” The government wanted the people to elect their police and crime commissioner as a way to ‘"empower the public" and give them a "direct say on how their streets are policed".’ The reform positively changed the police and crime commissioner election as 5 million citizens voted. Now that advertising efforts have been rendered, it is predicted that the number of voters will continue to increase, an effect of positive efficacy and transparency. Without a doubt, the positive efficacy and transparency is a contribution to democratic progress.
C. The UK is still a democracy despite the reported “terminal decline.” Even though voters have been dwindling down, there is still a Prime Minister, a parliament and all other aspects which categorize the UK as a parliamentary democratic government. Though the transparency, legitimacy and efficacy have been weak, the government is trying to recuperate and keep their hold. Though the number of concerns don’t seem to be reduced as efficiently, as seen in the article “’Bungled’ police and crime commissioner election failed voters,” the government is continuously striving to correct their mistakes and take better measurements to further expand their democratic progress.
I agree with Nancy that even though the transparency, legitimacy, and efficacy are low right now, the UK government still has the aspects of a democracy. It may not have all the aspects of a true democracy, but it is still a form of democracy.
DeleteA] The article “British Democracy in Terminal Declines, Warns Report” by Juliette Jowet gives readers information about UK’s declining democracy. As the power of corporations grow, UK politicians are becoming less representative of their people. The disillusioned people are losing trust in their government and aren’t participating in government affairs. The report by Democratic Audit notes that there have been many positive advances over the last 10 years, such as “stronger select committees of MPs holding ministers and civil servants to account; devolution of power to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and publication of much more information about politicians' expenses and party donors.” However there are more negative outcomes than positive. The Party Membership graph shows that the people aren’t registering to get involved with any political parties. The Standards of Conduct chart shows that people believe that the standards of public life are lowering. People are unhappy with the government and have lost faith. A democracy isn’t a democracy if the citizens aren’t taking interest in government, which is what’s happening in the UK today. The author has a strong point of view on democracy in the U.K. She believes that it’s on a decline due to the fact that the people aren’t getting involved in government anymore. If this decline continues at this rate, or any rate for that matter, the UK will eventually no longer be a democracy.
ReplyDeleteC] Although the UK is lacking democratic values, it is STILL a true democracy. The UK might not be the strongest democracy as of now due to the current low level of legitimacy.
Sharon Martinez
ReplyDeleteE- block
3/6/13
A) In the article "British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report" by Juliette Jowitt; it talks about how democracy is declining. Many politicians are less Representative of the citizens and constituencies. The membership of the Conservatives are declining as the years go by. While the Labour party is steadily increasing after 2009; The liberal democrats are keeping a steady number of members.Corporate power is rising and this will allow rudimentary Democratic principles to undermine. The author expresses concern about the emerging problem between Parties and people because there is little concern for the citizens.
B)In the article "Universal credit benefits system 'in meltdown',claims union" by Patrick Wintour; IT staff stepped down after Labour claimed that the government's universal credit plans are having serious problems. Liam Byrne the shadow work and pension worker, convinced many people that a problem has arose will tell his concerns in the Commons today. There was a different debate in the House of Commons yesterday where Duncan Smith denied that the UC was experiencing IT problems. The UC will incorporate housing benefits and payment to those working full-time or part-time as well as the unemployed. Since the DWP announced that some of the north-west claims would be processed.This hinders Democratic policies since a lot of problems are arising.
C)The UK is not a true democracy. Although they both parliamentary democracy and presidential democracy have similar ideas they are not the same. The two forms of government have restrictions that others don't. The UK gives a lot of power to the Prime Minister in the passing of bills. The legitimacy is declining in the UK government as it is shown in the first article. The efficiency is actually doing well because bills are being passed. The transparency is low because many citizens feel that their government officials aren't helping them at all.
Brittany Young
ReplyDeleteD-Block
Read “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt, UK Guardian July,2012.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/british-democracy-decline-report. Summarize the article including an assessment of the “Party Membership” and “Standards of Conduct” graphics. Be sure to identify democratic and non-democratic aspects of UK democracy mentioned in this article. Why does the author believe UK democracy is on the decline?
The article, “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report,” by Juliette Jowit, is about the “long-term terminal declines” Britain is said to be facing as the power of corporations keeps expanding and politicians become less representative of their constituencies. As the article continues, the Briton’s faith in democratic institutions decrease as a large gap in the participation rates of different social classes of voters. This results in levels of democracy in the United Kingdom decreasing. This, as Jowit states, “threatens to undermine some of the most basic principles of democratic decision-making”. From the two graphs provided in the article, there is evidence of lack of viewing standards, as the amount of people who believe their government has low standards increases and the amount of people who believe their government has high standards is decreasing.
B) ONE other UK Electoral Reform article from this page:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/06/british-democracy-decline-report
Summarize the second article and explain whether this reform promotes or hinders democratic progress.
In this article, “Bedroom tax 'will make thousands of disabled people £700 worse off,” by Nicholas Watt, Ed Miliband differs in opinion of David Cameron's idea of the bedroom tax, which cuts the amount of benefit that people can get if they are considered to have a spare bedroom. The issue of this article is fairness and if it is fair that people on housing benefit in private rented accommodation do not get a spare room subsidy whereas people in social housing do. This argument promotes democratic success. By compromising on a resolution, both parties are successfully making the citizens of the United Kingdom happy as well as the government.
C) Evaluation - Overall, is the UK a true democracy? Include information from class and these articles to support your answer. (You may want to reference legitimacy, transparency and efficacy in your response.)
The United Kingdom, based on these articles and information form class, is a true democracy. Many factors lead to the belief that the United Kingdom is a true democracy such as voting on laws, coming to compromises on political and economical debates, and having the people vote for their parliament.
keirra smith
ReplyDeleteThe article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt, is about democracy declining majorly.. The politicians havent been very representative of their consitiuencies . Britain’s constitutional setups are increasingly unstable. This is happening because of devolution,which is the gradual independence from an empire,. The Party Membership graph shows the membership of the UK’s three main political parties. membership has declined majorly in the Conservative and Labour parties. In 2009 the labour party increased . The third party on the graph which is the Liberal Democrats, stayed the same. The Standards of Conduct shows the perception of standards of conduct in public life in the United kingdom. The graph shows that the legitimacy in the government has decreased and those who were very unhappy with the government are increasing in terms of population. The author believes that Democracy is on the decline in the UK because no one is taking pride in i the nation anymore and concerned with the peoples concerns about their government,Politicians arent taking care of their constituencies, voters don’t feel their government is being legitimate so they don’t vote, and their is a huge deceease in the nations voting.
the article “Boundaries debate: shipwreck survivors fall out and are over a barrel” http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/29/commons-boundaries-debate-shipwreck-survivors-sketchis about a boundary disagreement.The Tories were the reason that the Lords had thrown the boundary changes out. They, refused the Lords reform. Due to the non communication it will slow down democratic process. If the parties cannot get along and work together than the nation will have no faith in democracy.I feel like the UK could be taking the right steps towards Democracy but they need to make sure they fix all the issues to star t off on a clean slate.
Pamela Tsetsakos A Block
ReplyDeleteA)The article is about how the author believes the UK is in a long-term terminal decline in terms of democracy. She fears that corporations and political figures are taking over too much power, and that the people aren’t getting as involved as they should be. Although according to the Democratic Audit there have been positive forces driven over the past 10 years, such as holding ministers accountable, the UK is severely declining in democracy. The current system is failing in properly representing its population, and controlling decision-making. Also, the UK has been dubbed as unstable due to he decline of social class variety, growing corporations and blind faith. The article states that people need to have faith in their government and trust them enough to get the people involved in decision-making. According to the charts, conservative and liberal democratic party members are decreasing, while their standards of conduct also decrease. Meanwhile, the labour party members are increasing while their standard of conducts increase as well. The press is overbearing, and recently the UK rank low among the wealthiest of the nations in the EU. They are trying to fix the democracy issue, however less than half voted for a referendum to change the voting systems for general elections. They need to begin by writing an actual constitution for the nation.
B) This next article talks about how oblivious English people are with their own government. They held the first direct elections for crime commissioner, yet no one knows who won. These elections had the lowest turnout in history, and didn’t necessarily work to benefit the people. Rules and regulations were kept secret, and people didn’t even know who was running. Only 15.1% of people showed up to these elections. Some blamed the press for controversial ads, and others blamed the government for failing to communicate properly. This hinders democratic progress because the people think they have a say in who is getting elected, meanwhile less than half of them are actually showing up to vote, with most people not having a clue who’s running.
C)I think the UK is a democracy in its beginning stages. Although they have their issues such as legitimacy problems with elections and ads, their efficacy balances it out. The government made a reform right after the failed election so that future elections could really benefit the people and their needs. Their government is also quite transparent seeing as they literally get in the middle of all the chaos, even though they refused to take the blame for the failed election.
Aly Stoffo
ReplyDelete0-Block Government
3/6/13
Juliette Jowitt reports in an article titled, "British Democracy In Terminal Decline Warns Report", that the citizens of the United Kingdom prove to be decreasing their involvement in their government rapidly since the year 2000. The people’s lack of motivation to be involved in their government is not only a foolish decision being that democracies give citizens a choice; it leaves future generations with little opportunity to have a decision when it comes to what goes and doesn't under the power of their government. Perhaps there are some factors that have made the people of the United Kingdom lose faith in their government. Official British statistics and public surveys show that there has been a widening gap in the participation rates of different social classes of voters and an "unprecedented" growth in corporate power. These two factors play a huge roll in prolonging the epidemic of devolution of the United Kingdom’s government. People of the United Kingdom may feel that there is too much of a corporate influence on the government for them to continue voting. People of the United Kingdom may believe that along with their involvement, the transparency of their government is at an all-time low because of the corruption that occurs within it and their votes don't matter. People are allowed to vote in the United Kingdom, but only 6 out of 10 do so during election times. Sadiq Khan, who is a former chair-member of human rights group recognized that there is no shortage of big issues that can be solved gradually with the help of the people, but these educational, environment, health, social and economic issues will remain as long as people don't involve themselves in their government. For example, the fact that an unpopular UK political party such as the Scottish Nationalist Party doesn't have a significant amount of members of parliament to represent the people may be a reason as to why British people seem to be upset with their government.
The UK government attempted to make a reform in order to rejuvenate democracy. In May of 2012 a referendum was given out to change voting systems for general elections. Shockingly, only 42% of people voted on this referendum. Also, eight out of nine cities rejected the chance to have directly elected mayors. The reason for the UK's decline in involvement with democracy can be anything from lack of political influence or education to laziness or business of the people.
The UK's traditional influenced democracy may be a minor factor in the decline of democracy. The nations lack of efficacy/political influence may have discouraged the people in believing in their government which led the United Kingdom on a rapid decline away from democracy. Democracy gives power to the people of the nation, If people aren't involved in their government, then democracy will crumble for them.
Christopher Morabito
ReplyDeleteE Block
a) In a recent report by Democratic Audit, evidence would suggest that democracy in the UK is in decline. Participation in political parties has decreased as has voting percentages in general. In fact during the 2010 general election the voter turnout was just above sixty percent and only one percent of the electorate belonging to a party. The report did find a number of areas where democracy is increasing, such as the increased role of third parties, however many were alarmed by the number of areas that were deemed in need of improvement. The authors of the report found concern in 92 areas, of which 62 were new issues, electoral fraud being one of them. It seems that many people are of the belief that the government can do little in terms of helping the people. This idea certainly seems to be reflected in the article’s two charts. The first, “Membership of the UK’s three main political parties, thousands” shows a relatively steady decline in membership of both the conservative and laboour party; while the labour party once had nearly one hundred thousand more members it seems that membership of the labour party is now of an equal amount. The second chart, “overall perception of standards of conduct in public life, UK, 2010, %” shows a decrease in people that believe the standard of living is high as well as an increase of those saying that it is low. Put in other terms, it is showing a decrease in efficacy in the UK. Both of these things contribute to the author’s opinion about the decline of UK democracy.
b) “Bedroom tax 'will make thousands of disabled people £700 worse off'” by Nicholas Watt
Currently there is a great deal of debate in regards to the Prime Minister’s proposed “bedroom tax” which will reduce the benefits of those deemed to have a spare bedroom. Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition party, stated that this proposal will take an average of 700 pounds a year away from people with disabilities. Cameron however, states that this is not true. He says that this proposal is merely an end to an earlier subsidy that was put in place. He also states that people with severe disabilities, people in need of 24 hour care, and people that are on pension are all exempt. He even points out that under his administration the amount of money spent towards people with disables is increasing. However, there is still an issue on fairness in regards to who would be affected by this bill and who would not. This article shows democracy at work where laws are being questioned and debated before being passed. However the issue of lack of fairness shows a lack of democracy in terms of equality as some people will be affected by this law while others in almost identical situations will not be.
c) The UK is not a true democracy. However, a true democracy, one in which everyone has equal say in government, is a nearly impossible feat. In the case of most every law it would be impossible to appease everyone. There will always be groups that disagree with a law. Efficacy can never reach a full one hundred percent. However, The UK is very democratic in nature. People have a say in government through who they vote for and while not voting is a personal choice it has a potentially drastic role on the way a government will function. Just as it is important for a government to provide ways for people to become involved in government, it is even more important for people to seize the opportunities, perhaps even more so when they disagree with the way politics are currently being run.
A.) After reading “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report” by Juliette Jowitt explains to us why democracy has been declining. People in the UK have stopped trying to do what is right for their country and not help themselves. People must go out and engage in the political parties, have to start voting in order to for their democracy to rise again
ReplyDeleteB.) The other article that I read was “Bedroom Tax Will Make Thousands of Disabled People Worse off” by Nicholas Watt speaks about how a disagreement went on between the Prime Minister David Cameron and Ed Milliband had. This disagreement is about how people were going to lose a lot of their euros every year under the bedroom tax. Milliband believed that it was not fair that these people weren’t getting treated the way the other people were.
C.) Overall everything that I learned about the UK I do believe it is a true democracy.
The state of democrocy in the UK is currently in decline. Party participation has been decreasing for the last decade. Voter participation has also decreased to 60% of eligable voters. In a direct vote only 46% of the eligable populaion voted. The policy of government has shown that public opinion is matching law policy less and less. The recent proposal to allow election into the house of Lords should help make the voters feel more empowered however more dramatic of effective ideas are needed to restore the democrocy of britan to its former state. The UK still holds its place as a true indirect democrocy I believe it will continue to do so until it is completly unrecognizable compared to its former glory.
ReplyDeleteI would have referenced a second article but the link took me to the first article
Daniel Belic
Elizabeth Seijo
ReplyDeleteD block
A. The article British "Democracy In Terminal Decline, Warns Report" talks about how democracy in the United Kingdom is slowly declining. Constituencies are becoming less representative of the people and because of this people feel that their government is not doing what they are supposed to be doing, witch is representing their people. This is also causing a major problem of people not voting and also people are starting to talk less about the social affairs that are going on in the u.k.
B. The second article"Bedroom tax will make thousands of disabled people worse off" this article talks about the disagreement between Ed Milliband and Prime Minister David Cameron. A lot of citizens that live in the United Kingdom would lose about seven hundred euros a year under the bedroom tax that is being talked about. Ed Milliband wanted to make sure that people that were under 24 hour would not have to suffer for this because he did not think that it was fare. Prime Minister David Cameron felt the complete opposite because he said that no one should be exempt from this bedroom tax.
C. Overall I don't think that the United Kingdom is a true democracy. A democracy involves the people that live in that counter to vote who is in their government and I don't think that the UK is all about that. I do however think that the people that live there do have somewhat of a say about what is going on and big decisions that are going to be made in the country.
A.) The article “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report” stated that for the last decade the UK’s state of democracy is growing in the “long term terminal decline” chart. UK politicians are slowly stop discussing current affairs with the citizens. For the past ten years though there were advances like, devolution of power to Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and publication of much more information about politicians' expenses and party donors. But because of that Britain’s democracy has moved away from control over political decision-making, and how fairly the system reflects the population it represents. Those are the reasons why the author believes democracy in the UK is declining. In the chart on the article it shows the conservatives having the most members but declines steadily after 2006. The Labor party began to incline in 2009, they were more moderate and Tony Blair replaced Gordon Brown. The Liberal Democrats had no change and stayed steadily through time. Legitimacy has drastically decreased since 2004.
ReplyDeleteB.) The article, “'Bungled' police and crime commissioner election failed voters” is about how the government is lacking communication with the people, and that lead to failed voter for major elections. The people don’t even know who the candidates are for elections. The citizens are slowly loosing trust in their government and that’s what is most important in a democracy. This is major decline in voting and this hinders the process democracy in the UK.
C.) Overall, I believe the UK was a true democracy but now is slowly to stripping away from democracy because voting has decreased and the government is very secretive. The government has to let their citizens know what plans or decisions they might pass. If the people have no idea of a law being passed what makes the people want to vote on voting day? The government should not be foreign to their citizens.
Jessica Dunn D-Block
ReplyDeleteA) The article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt, is mainly about how the UK government’s democratic practices are declining. There is an increasing disconnect between citizens and their representatives. Public faith in democratic institutions is declining and Britain’s constitutional arrangements are “increasingly unstable.” Looking at the “Party Membership” graphic, it is clear that the membership in the Conservative and Labour parties has decreased drastically from 2000 to 2010. Membership in the Liberal Democrat party, however, das stayed the same. This could most definitely be a result of the decreasing trust and faith citizens have in elected representatives. Looking at the “Standards of Conduct” graphic, it is clear that the number of citizens who viewed the standards as very high is decreasing and the number of citizens who viewed the standards as very low is increasing. The democratic aspects of UK democracy are that the information about politicians’ expenses is more public, and there is a proposal to make the Lords mostly elected. The non-democratic aspects of UK government are that London doesn’t have a directly elected mayor, and that citizens have less control over political decision-making. The author believes that UK democracy is decreasing because people are losing faith and disconnecting from their representatives. This is causing a decrease in voter turnout and a democracy can’t work without voters.
B) The article, “Votes at 16: we can marry, pay taxes and join the army, so why not vote?” by Grant Costello is about parliament’s decision to let 16 and 17 year olds in Scotland vote. This allows 16 and 17 year olds in Scotland to be treated as full citizens. This decision promotes democratic progress because it’s allowing more people to vote and have a say in their own government. This reform helps the government see what needs to be done to help the younger portion of society. The ultimate benefit of this reform is that it makes more people vote and increases the number of people who have a say in their government.
C) Overall the UK is not a true democracy. From the first article, the legitimacy in the UK is declining because people have having less and less faith in their representatives. The efficiency is also declining because since people aren’t voting, the government can’t make democratic institutions better. The transparency, however, is getting better because the information about politicians’ expenses and party donors is becoming more public. Although people in the UK can vote for many of their government officials, it is not a full democracy because people don’t get to vote on who is in the House of Lords. This takes away form their participation in government. The UK is a democracy, but it is not a true democracy because citizens can’t vote on entirely everything and the voter turnout is decreasing, but citizens can vote for most of their government officials.
Brian Fox
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A)In the article "British democracy in terminal decline, warns report",
a study of the past 10 years in Britain has shown that democracy has generally declined. Corporations gaining power, politicians being less representative of their people and less people voting are to blame for this decrease. The amount of people that really trust the government (efficacy) has been decreasing leading to less voters. People are questioning whether it will ever come to a point where voter turnouts are so low that it can not even be considered representative democracy anymore. Jowit says that just over 6 out of the 10 eligible voters went to the polls in the 2010 general election. Attempts to boost voter turnouts recently did not work out seeing as only 42% of people voted.
B)In the article "Women losing ground in positions of power, report reveals" Yvonne Roberts explains how women are being excluded from politics and public life. The amount of British women in government compares poorly to that of other European countries. Britain ranks 60th place out of 190 countries in female representation in their government. Only 22.5% of representatives are women. This is half the number of Sweden and Finland. There has been only a 3.9% increase in women MPs since the year 2000. In 2015 during the next general election, there is a plan to increase the number of women in Parliament. 2/3rds of councilors are male yet only 49% of the total population is made up of men.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/24/women-losing-positions-power-report?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
C)The UK is not a true democracy currently. Things have fallen apart when talking about the democratic state of the UK. An increasing number of people don't really trust their government which means the efficacy is pretty low. Parliament is being somewhat transparent when it revealed that there are far fewer women MPs than men. They also revealed the voter turnouts. The amount of voters and the number of women in Parliament should both be increased in order for the UK to move back towards being a true democracy.
Jordan Minchew
ReplyDeleteD- Block
A) The article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt is about how the UK democratic government is declining. The representatives and their people are not connecting and the people are also not having as much of a say in law as they used to. Over the past few years the UK has progressed and advanced with democracy but it seems as though democracy has become less important and in control. Overtime the voting rate has also decreased which gave nations within the UK more power. The author believes that the UK is slowly moving away from democracy. The decision-making is becoming less open to the people to give their opinions. Even though some of the UK ways are changing and some people believe the UK is becoming less democratic, there are still some aspects of the government that has democratic ways.
C) Overall the UK is a true democracy. One main reason the UK is still a true democracy is because the people still have the right to vote. Although some people may not, the option to vote is still available and until that is taken away the UK is a democracy. The levels of legitimacy, efficiency, and transparency have decreased slowly overtime, but in all it is still a democracy. There is still opportunity for people to voice their opinions and have a say in government. In my opinion the UK is still a true democracy.
Amanda Vazzano 0-Block
ReplyDeleteA) In the article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ Jowitt talks about how UK Democracy is on a decline. The growth of corporations power have taken away from their parliamentary democracy. Since politicians became less representative of their constituencies, most citizens decided to stop voting. "The reality is that representative democracy, at the core, has to be about people voting, has to be about people engaging in political parties, has to be about people having contact with elected representatives, and having faith and trust in elected representatives, as well as those representatives demonstrating they can exercise political power effectively and make decisions that tend to be approved of," said Wilks-Heeg. The governments lack of legitimacy has caused the citizens to take no part in the UK government and a Democracy is nothing without it's peoples say. The Conservative and Labour Party have both declined, giving the Liberal Democrats a steady amount of members throughout the years. The standards of conduct show that the citizens of the UK no longer see their country as a place of their common interest due to the graphs decline in standard viewing as "very high" or "quite high" and its increase in standard viewing as "very low" or "quite low".
B) “Votes at 16: we can marry, pay taxes and join the army, so why not vote?”
In this article, Costello talks about how 16 and 17 year olds should have the right to vote in Scotland. Giving these teens the right to vote gives them some sense of power in the government. Their desires are able to be represented in their votes, especially education because they are currently enrolled in school. Their votes can be very influential to their way of living and how they pursue their future. David Cameron gave them their right to vote and lead them into democratic progress. Giving teens the right to vote has increased the amount of voters and say in what goes on in the government. A Democracy is a government made from the people and teens should have as much say as any other person because they're considered to be responsible adults.
C) Overall the Uk is not a true democracy. Even though people are given the right to vote for who they want, including teens, it isn't enough. Their lack of legitimacy takes away from the peoples votes. They believe that their government is not doing right by them and that voting for what they believe will not change that. This lack of voting has brought down the governments efficiency because they can't make solid changes without consent from its people. They also lack in transparency because the citizens feel that they don't share everything with its people, which also turns them off to the idea of voting.
Sarah Tallaksen
ReplyDeleteD Block
“British democracy in terminal decline, warns report”
Many people believe that Britain’s government is on a "long-term terminal decline". While there have been some cases of advancement in the past 10 years, the principle, one vote seems to be moving further and further away. People are worried that the government is growing increasingly unstable and more power is being shifted to corporations rather than the representation of people. There is an ever widening gap between votes due to social class, wealth, age, education or personal connections. The list of issues is forever growing yet the amount of voters is steadily decreasing. Reports have found 74 areas of improvement but 92 areas of continuing concern and another 62 of new emerging concerns. The UK falls short when ranked below average in democratic countries and even worse for issues pertaining party membership and turn out. Attempts to rejuvenate democracy have seemed to fail with only 42% people voting on a new referendum and the rejection of voting for directly elected mayors. The first chart shows that party membership has declined in the Conservatives and Labour party. Also it reveals that the Labour party was upturned on 2009. The second chart presents a decrease in UK legitimacy since 2004 and been steadily decreasing since the turn of the century. The author believes UK democracy is on the decline because corporations are continuing to grow in power and this threatens democracy itself. The corporation’s power, "threatens to undermine some of the most basic principles of democratic decision-making".
“Government to legislate for plain cigarette packaging this year”
Ministers are attempting to make cigarette brands plain because they think the way they are represented encourages smoking. They also hope to ban smoking in cars with anyone who is under the age 16. With the introduction of plain packaging the ministers hope to reduce smoking in the UK and deter young smokers. This action was prompted by a study that revealed about 100,000 deaths a year due to smoking and a wide range of health issues in the UK including diet, drink and drugs. The Ministers also want to improve diet by designing an intervention for families. By using a uniform plain packaging they hope that non-smokers will be less interested in trying and old investors will weaken attachment to brands and clearly and graphically illustrate the dangers of smoking. This reform hinders the democratic process. It is forcing companies to give over their rights to advertisement. Companies will have to all use the same model for packaging with no difference except for the bland brand name on the back of the package. Just like how some governments force people to have the same materials or wear the same thing.
Overall the UK is a true democracy. Just like the quote states that there are some exceptions to every rule, there are some exceptions in the UK democracy. Even if the numbers of voters are limited, there are still voters; people are still allowed to vote. The UK is open about what they are doing and actions taken place to solve problems. The people still pick the officials that represent them. Some actions that people may not agree with seem to be in the best interest of the country for example the cigarette packaging reform. It aims to keep people healthy but without major harm to the people or taking away the ability to smoke. There are always problems and there will always be emerging problems however that does not mean the government is not doing its democratic duty to serve to the people.
Brianna Harrell
ReplyDeleteA Block
A.) The article, “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report” by Juliette Jowit explores the study/report by Democratic Audit that demonstrates reasons why Britain is in a long-term terminal decline - with major corporations taking front stage, leaving politicians ineffective in their constituencies. The citizens are beginning to doubt how “legit” (deals with legitimacy) their parliamentary democratic government truly is and some have even started to not vote in elections or participate in any such affairs anymore. According to the two graphs, “Party Membership” and “Standards of Conduct”, membership of political parties and election turnout has fallen significantly in the last decade and the overall perception of standards of conduct in public life has decreased greatly, concluding how deep public disillusionment truly is The author points out specific democratic measures of the UK like the devolution of power to Northern Ireland and others, and the advancement in publishing more information about politicians' expenses and party donors. However on the flip side, “control over political decision-making and an "unprecedented" growth in corporate power” has led to the author concluding that the UK is politically unstable and that the same democratic ideals they once held have faded or disappeared.
B.) In the article, “Bungled' police and crime commissioner election failed voters” by Alan Travis, the UK attempted to even further democratize the government by allowing citizens vote on police commissioner for the first time. However the turn out was not highly anticipated in the £75m election - 90% of voters admitted that they didn’t have the slightest idea who the local commissioner was and 88% of the population said that awareness for the election was “low”. It’s quite apparent that there is a lack of communication between voters and the national government. Another factor to why the turnout was unsuccessful is because the government’s mismanagement for the elections. A study by the Electoral Reform Society revealed that voters were left in the dark on which candidate they should vote for, while candidates had massive campaign costs. This demonstrates the hindering democratic progress of the UK and the government is not fully meeting the needs of the people.
C.) The definition of a true democracy is a government that serves the people and is run by the people. Based on the information from the first article, “British” the UK is not a true democracy for the main reason that corporations are heading public elections and government. Not only that but the House of Lords, a house in parliament primarily full of experts in certain professional fields, is in fact undemocratic because the Queen appoints them to their seats. Besides the fact that the people do not elect most of the Lords, there is no particular time stamp on the longevity period a Lord can serve in the House of Lords. They can serve for as long as they wish to and up until the 1990’s in the House of Lords Reform Act, these same Lords could pass their seats to members in their family, making them hereditary peers. Citizens in many cities don’t even directly vote for the mayors. It’s evident that there is a lack of legitimacy in the UK where the citizens just don’t strongly believe in their government anymore. The UK is somewhat efficient and transparent in the way that, yes, they are quite effective in enforcing laws and such but they somewhat lack the level of transparency. Although the government is fairly open about what they do, the Prime Minister has the ability, the power to influence the media so the level of transparency can highly be affected by that.
The article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt. She describes the U.K's declining democratic voting system. It is no longer a vote from one person, it is a vote by big business. Jowitt states in the article that "Britain's constitutional arrangements are "increasingly unstable" owing to changes such as devolution". What she means by this is that instead of moving toward a more democratic nation (which they are considered as one) they are actually moving the opposite way. People are starting to notice that they arent really getting a say as to who can become their leaders. Only the people know whats best for them yet, the article states that infact the voters are turning away from the poles and are becoming less politically involved. In the other article it stated that "without mass political participation,
ReplyDeletethe sense of disconnection between citizens and their representatives will
inevitably grow." The democratic aspect of the U.K's political voting system is
that they can only elect mp's into seats. Yet the non democratic aspect of it is
that they cannot choose who their own prime minister who runs the country can
be. This is a big down side for U.K's democratic system.
The second article explains how the U.k government reforms are hindered. The
conservatives were trying to pass a bill without a portfolio. Yet they did not
expect the house of lords to reject the bill. This shows a negative aspect of
the democratic system in the U.K. This is because the two parties are not
agreeing on one thing, so how does the country expect to solve its other
problems while agreeing on it Aswell. This is why the U.K should try to make an
effort to incorporate more votes from the people to make the decisions. After
all they do consider themselves a democratic government so they have to stick by
that.
Nick mastropiero 0-block
ReplyDeleteoverall the U.K's government isnt truly democratic anymore. This is because the Britons arent able to have a say in who their own prime minister can be. This is the leader of their country who makes decisions and represents the U.K as a nation. Yet if the people cannot even vote for him then they arent really getting what they voted for, thats why i believe their system isnt truly democratic Nick mastropiero 0-block
ReplyDeletebriano bruno
ReplyDeleteThe article states that the british democracy is in a decline because as the power of corperations keep growing the representation of the consticuencies by the MP’s is declining, meaning that the interests of the constituencies in which these people were elected to uphold are being brushed off. The party membership graphic shows that the members of the labour as well as the conservative party have lowered to a point where they are both equal while the liberal democrats have stayed basically steady throughout the years. Also the standards of conduct graphics shows that the the efficacy of the UK is decreasing because more people are viewing standards as lower in comparison to higher. There is very little peoples envolvement in government where only 6 out of 10 will actually show up to polls, the author brings up the uncertainty over englands constitutional arrangement of powers, as powers are increasingly delegated to the other 3 branches.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/mar/07/david-cameron-dismiss-increase-borrowing
In the above article David Cameron decides that increased borrowing would be unnecessary saying that there is no magic money tree and that borrowing any extra money would in fact jeopardize the people who live in the UK. The articles go on to talk about how stimulating economic growth through unfunded tax cuts wouldn’t help.
Overall the UK is in fact not a true democracy considering they don’t elect there actual leader they’re only electing the people who sit in the seats who then elect there leader, the MP’s aren’t necessarily keeping the interest of the constituencies in mind as much as they are big business
A) The article "British democracy in terminal decline, warns report" by Juliette Jowit talks about the UK government and how legitimacy in the government is beginning to fade as time passes. As more and more corporations gain power, politicians in the government are becoming less representative of their constituencies causing less people to know of and be involved in government. The decreased party membership and the lower perception of conduct in UK show that the level of legitimacy in the government is less common. Although the UK is becoming less democratic because of the lack of citizen involvement in government affairs and the needs of the citizens are not being met, there are still democratic aspects of the government. For example, the publication of much more information about politicians' expenses and party donors. Jowit seems to believe the democracy in the UK government is fading away because of a lacking connection between UK citizens and their government.
ReplyDeleteB) In the article, "2012 Democratic Audit: British democracy in 'terminal decline" the UK democracy is said to be declining over the years. The government has decreased in main areas including 'civil and political rights' and the 'democratic role of political parties'. This shows a lack of transparency and efficacy, both of which have a huge role in a democratic government.
C) Overall, I believe the UK is a weak democracy. The democratic aspects of the government are fading, but they have yet to disappear. A weak democracy is visible due to the lack of votes made by the people showing no transparency. The government is not meeting the needs of it's people causing an anti-trust relationship between the people and their government. Efficacy in a democracy is very important for the government to succeed and grow. Legitimacy in the government is lacking because of its poor attempt to sustain a UK democracy.
Juliette Jowitt's article, “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ explores the change of democracy taking place in the U.K. Recently, over the past few years the UK is not considered a democracy. The article sates that a recent study proves that democracy in the U.K has come to a long term terminal decline. This is because the power in politics is most of the power in politics is now centered in a variety of corporations, politicians. These corporations and politicians then focus less on their jobs as representatives of the people. This as a result of being poorly represented, the people give up on voting because they feel it won’t make a difference. The author believes that this is linked to an idea of disillusionment, which is also reflected in the graphs displayed. Conservative and Labor party membership has decreased in the past years. This benefits the liberal Democrats having steady membership. The second graph represents the overall point of view on the standards in public life in the Standards of Conduct in the UK. . Overall, both the graphs and the article reflect the shortness of legitimacy, efficacy, and transparency in the UK. As a result, the Representative Democracy is taking hits and declining.
ReplyDeleteI read/watched “Local democracy: the future looks bleak for political activism.” This article/video basically looked at the fact that people are less interested in government. The representatives have failed to do their job so the people lose hope. The people who vote are finding it harder and harder to trust and have faith in their representative therefore, resulting in less voting and participation in the government. The video shows people from a political party knocking on doors and talking about fixing problems in the community. The people are interested and offering suggestions to these politicians. So, that suggests that the people want to be part of the government but they know what they want to say wont be heard so they don’t try.
I think the UK has a democracy that is somewhat corrupt. The government lacks transparency. The people have completely lost trust in their government, which is also why legitimacy is only somewhat existent. The government is carrying out acts and promises; however it may not be what the people want. Efficacy is also lacking the government knows what its people want but doesn’t care. I don’t think it’s fully moved away from democracy but I do think it is slowly drifting away.
Brandon O'Keede - D Block
ReplyDeleteThe article "British democracy in terminal decline, warns report" by Juliette Jowit, speaks about the decline in the United Kingdom's government. The UK's government has been on a downfall because of the politicians not focusing on the constituencies and focusing more on their part in parliament. The first graph shows the fast decline of members in parliament. Both major parties numbers are going down over the years. The other graph shows peoples standards of government. Its very bad because all of those who thought high of government are now thinking lower. And all of those who think low of government is increasing. The UK is in a very bad position right now because of legitimacy and transparency in government. They are lacking to show the people what they are doing and how they plan to fix all aspects of government. People are thinking less and less of it because of legitimacy and transparency. The article I chose to read discussed the peoples vote and their vote for the commissioner. It was shocking to me because the numbers of voting in November were extremely low although the government and parties spent over 75 million pounds to promote themselves. What is really sad is that the amount of the promotion was highest but the number of voters was lowest in history. This shows that the people have very little information about what is going on in government, who to vote for and what they are voting for. They are also speaking less of current affairs and government because they feel that their representative is lacking communication with their constituencies. I do believe the UK is a true democracy because they give people their say, somewhat. People have a role in government, thats through their representative in parliament. The people have their say, its up to their representative (that they vote for) to make what they want, happen.
Joseph Rodriguez
ReplyDeleteE-Block
The article entitled "British democracy in terminal decline, warns report" by Juliette Jowit highlights the threat to British democracy by the decline in voter turnout. The significant decline has caused many to ponder to what extent is Britain even a democracy anymore. As stated by Stuart Wilks-Heeg, "The reality is that representative democracy, at the core, has to be about people voting, has to be about people engaging in political parties..." Wilks-Heeg defines democracy as people participating or having a role in the election of government positions. The freedom to vote is one that is not offered in every country, and therefore, it is a privilege to be able to act on this right. The graph titled Party Membership shows the overall decrease in party membership, especially for Conservative and Labour groups in Britain. While the Liberal Democratic group has a more stabilized membership it is still about one hundred thousand members lower than the Labour party. Beside this graph is a graph depicting the overall perception of the Standards of Conduct in Britain, specifically in regards to public life. The idea that the standards are very high has decreased in the last decade while the viewpoint that standards are very low has increased. These are two issues that Jowit makes note of in her article. Jowit expresses concern for the Democratic nature of the government because of the low participation in UK politics, with "just over six out of 10 eligible voters going to the ballot box." This means only a little over half of the eligible voters are actually exercising their right and voicing their opinion. Unfortunately, it seems that when countries stop exercising their rights, it is easiest for those rights to be taken away or limited over time. The idea that the public has the opportunity to vote in election shows the democratic nature of the government. Although they have Prime Ministers (PMs), they have features of their government that resemble a democracy. The final reforms suggested at the end of the article seems to be more democratic, since replacing the Lords with more elected officials will bring a greater sense of input from the common-people, or the average voter. In my opinion, many of the reforms would help promote or protect some sense of democracy in the UK government. Overall, I wouldn't consider the UK government a true democracy. While they are trying to grant some political freedom in the country, there are traditions that violate some aspects that I would consider violations of a "true" democracy, for example, the presence of Lords instead of a committee composed of solely elected officials; however, the UK seems to be trying to reform the government and over time, hopefully a true democracy will rise with the support of a stronger voting population.
In the first article it discusses how the British Democracy is undergoing a rapid change and not for the better. it is in a terminal decline because politicians haven't been representative of their consitiuencies. Companies are also growing to become more powerful leaders, no longer becoming involved in current affairs which leads the citizens to question the legitimacy of their government. In their questioning some have even decided not to vote in elections. By not voting the voting rate decreases which gives nations within the UK more power. The government needs their people to have more activity with voting but with this decline the people's faith in a democracy has slipped.
ReplyDeleteVincent Eadicicco
ReplyDeleteD Block
In the article titled “British democracy in terminal decline, warns report,” Juliette Jowit informs readers of the decade-long study of the UK government system. The study concludes that aspects of the government are negatively changing. Corporations are growing more and more powerful and this is causing the people to have absolutely no jurisdiction. These Corporations are taking advantage of UK citizens and when that happens, the people decide that they no longer want to par take in any governmental affairs. This problem is on going and many UK families decide not to engage in annual voting. According to the Party Membership chart, the amount of conservatives has decreased quite drastically after every 2 year window. In the year 2000 there were 400,000 conservatives that participated in government. On the other hand, in 2010 that number has decreased to 200,000 conservatives. The Labour party also shows a decrease in the amount people participating. Unlike the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, Liberal Decomcrats remains at a steady pace throughout a ten year span. In the other graph titled “ Standards of Conduct” we see a major decrease in the legitimacy of the UK people. Some democratic aspects of the UK that remain today is the fact that people still have the right to vote. Also, citizens of the UK are allowed the freedom to self expression. Some non-decomcratic aspects of the government is how big corporations are taking over. Also, there is a corrupt voting system which includes the pardoning of particular votes. In other words not everyone’s vote counts towards the overall decision. The author believes that UK democracy is on the decline because of the fact that it lacks transparency, efficacy, and legitimacy.
In the article titled “Miliband and Clegg to urge Cameron to back press regulator with statute” the author discusses how the Prime Minister will soon start to lose control of his legislative program. There is a bill called the Defamation Bill and with this being passed, governmental figures may lose some say in legislation. Cameron is not sure as to whether or not he should present this bill in the Commons. It is an on going action that should proceed in a positive outcome.
In my opinion I feel that the UK is a true democracy. With that being said, it is also filled with corruption. But citizens of the UK are still provided with their basic rights which constitutes as a democracy. Voting and freedom of speech is still current in the UK. Most countries that are a democracy are corrupt due to corporations and the feeling of higher power. As long as the people are given their natural rights and a say to participate in government, the country is characterized as a democracy
Ryan Bernabe
ReplyDeleteE-Block
In the article “British Democracy in Terminal Decline, Warns Report“ by Juliette Jowitt the author talk about the decline in the attempts to be a normal and successful democracy. In order to be a successful democracy the people have to have a say when it comes to voting on certain things. Also voting has become a less popular practice over the past few years which should encourage the government to allow the people to vote because its no different when it comes to the knowledge about whos running for what. In the article "Bedroom tax 'will make thousands of disabled people £700 worse off' The issue of aid at home for disabled people comes up and whether or not the fund deduction is fair. It is argued by the prime minister that people who need around the clock aid or people with children that are incredibly ill are exempt from these cuts. Some people believe bankers bonus' or salaries should be capped or lessened do to the budget constrictions instead of the ill and defenseless people getting negatively affected by this.
Diana Estrada D block
ReplyDeleteThe article talks about the democracy from the past and present. The article brings up that citizens have stopped voting which slow down the progression of democracy. The rise in corporate power will start to undermine democratic goals. The political parties are starting to get declines over the years. The government is becoming less representative and the people are starting to not participate. The article informs us that Brittan is starting to worry for the fact that they have moved far from their goals. The second article expresses that the lack of communications between the gov’t and the people are becoming an issue. The governed were ill informed about whom their votes could go to. The people’s votes are being manipulated. Democracy in the uk is not progressing. I do not believe Britain has true democracy. Having a transparent government lets the person know what is going on with who is leading their government.
Alyssa Isaac
ReplyDeleteBlock – D
A) The article, “British Democracy in Terminal Decline Warns Report” by Juliette Jowit explains that the government in the United Kingdom is becoming less and less legitimate. This is because the people are starting to doubt the government. According to the article, the government’s reputation is not in favor of the citizens and many of them have no motivation to vote anymore. Although Britain claims to have a representative democracy, many of the citizens needs have not been met and the government’s transparency is low. The people are starting to doubt the government and showing less of an interest, which is putting democracy in danger. It is visible in the “Party Membership” graph on the article that the Conservative party has gone down drastically since 2000 and the Labour has also gone down since then.
B) In the article Bungled police and crime commissioner election failed voters" by Alan Travis shows how separate the citizens are from their representatives. Surveys show that 88% of the population of the United Kingdom feel that interests in elections were at an all time low. A study by the Electoral Reform Society revealed that voters did not know nearly enough about who they could vote for. On a poll, only 11% could correctly name their local commissioner which is “fewer than the 15% who bothered to vote.” In a different survey, studies reveal that 88% felt awareness levels on the election were “low” while 63% thought it was “very low.” Without a doubt, the positive efficacy and transparency is a contribution to democratic progress
C) Overall, I believe that the U.K is not actually a true democracy. A reason for this would be that it is a tri-cameral government. In a true democracy there is transparency, legitimacy, and efficacy. n the UK the people have been losing interest in the government and voting has decreased. This information was shown in the first article entitled “British Democracy in Terminal Decline Warns Report”. The UK might not be the strongest democracy as of now due to the current low level of legitimacy.