Government & Politics AS (Mr Ryan)

VOTING PARTICIPATION.

• The term voter turnout means the amount of people that have voted e.g. the voterturnout for the 2010 general election was 65.1%.

Reasons for and for a lack of participation.

• People under 35 don't vote as much because the subjects in which the partiesdiscuss aren't relevant to them. studies from sources say that if the candidatespolicies promised to tackle climate change then they would be more willing to vote.

• PEOPLE UNDER 35 DON'T VOTE BECAUSE THE CANDIDATESPOLICIES ARE NOT RELEVANT TO THEM.

• Unable to get to polling stations, studies from sources say that councils are makingit easier by putting polling stations in supermarkets and sending voting slips throughthe post, however, these are yet to come into action, so in 2010's general electionpeople may not have had the means.

• PEOPLE ARE UNABLE TO HAVE ACCESS TO A POLLING STATION.(THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED).

• Gender. Men are more likely to vote, this could be down to tradition or maybe thefact that men see it as a matter of power.

• MALES ARE MORE LIKELY TO VOTE THAN WOMEN.• Race. There was a high turnout of Jewish votes and a low turn out of afro-

Caribbean votes in the 2001 general election, this could be due to religious viewsor economic status.

• JEWS ARE MORE LIKELY TO VOTE THAN AFRO-CARIBBEAN.• Partisan alignment. People tend to vote with a family influence, as they have

been heavily influenced by their family in upbringing. However, there has been abeginning of partisan de-alignment in more recent years.

• PEOPLE ARE LIKELY TO VOTE THE SAME AS THEIR FAMILY.• Social class. The association of money with higher education and the assumption

that people with less money have poor education. This may mean that the lowerclasses a less likely to have any interest in politics.

• MIDDLE AND UPPER CLASS ARE MORE LIKELY TO VOTE DUE TOHIGHER EDUCATION.

• Lack of choice. People feel that the candidates given as choices are too similar,they all have very similar policies. So they feel feel that it doesn't matter which onethey vote for as each party will bring the same outcome.

• PEOPLE FEEL THE PARTIES ON OFFER ARE TOO SIMILAR.• Media and party image. Voter's are now more open to media influence and they

are more likely to vote on their judgement of the parties and politicians reputationin the media, and as the public tend to be more interested in scandals, then thisis what the media writes about. Party image tells the voters what they are like andwhat they get up to, this can sway the voter's.

• THE MEDIA INFLUENCES THE ELECTORATE AND PORTRAYS THEPOLITICIANS/PARTIES IN A BAD LIGHT.

• Lack of vision. Many people believe that these days, parties are mainly focusedon getting elected into power, not for the welfare of the country but for the job. Itbelieved that they lack passion and vision for change in the country.

• POLITICIANS ONLY WANT TO GET INTO POWER FOR THE JOB NOTFOR THE WELFARE OF THE COUNTRY.

• Electoral targets. Parties often target key voters, such as Labour are known fortargeting trade unions and workers. This can sometimes be a good thing, but it canlead to a low voter turn out as they miss a chunk of society by focusing on justone part.

• PARTIES FOCUS ON 'KEY' VOTERS AND MISS CHUNKS OF SOCIETY.• Apathy and selfishness. People are more concerned about themselves and their

family these days, and less concerned about the larger society. Therefore they can'tbe bothered to vote and they don't believe it will effect them or their family. Notonly has their been a fall in voting turnout, but also in church attendance and unionmembership.

• PEOPLE ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR FAMILY. SOTHEY DON'T VOTE BECAUSE THEY DON'T THINK IT WILL EFFECTTHEM.

• Party loyalty. People identify with a party and then tend to stick with that party. Thiscan contribute to partisan alignment.

• PEOPLE BECOME LOYAL TO A PARTY.• Economy. The economy has a huge impact on peoples emotions and their voting

habits. When the economy is bad, the electorate tends to vote for more extremeparties because they need a way out of the hard times, however, when the economyis good and the electorate is happy they tend to stay in the middle and stick to the

conventional parties. E.G. In the 2010 UK election, Britain was in a recession andthe BNP received almost 400,000 more votes than the 2005 election.

• THE ELECTORATE TEND TO VOTE FOR EXTREMES WHEN THEECONOMY IS BAD, BUT WHEN THE ECONOMY IS GOOD THEY VOTEFOR THE CONVENTIONAL PARTIES.

• Events leading up to the election. Events leading up to the election can have amajor impact on how the electorate is going to vote, they may have their mind on aparty, maybe it had been a family tradition to vote for that party, and then a majorscandal emerges the week before the election, that is going to have a big impact.Such as Labours decision to go to war in Iraq made people question Tony Blair.However, sometimes it can work to an advantage, as Margaret Thatcher's successin the Falklands boosted conservatives prospects in 1983.

• SCANDALS RELEASED JUST BEFORE AN ELECTION CAN HEAVILYINFLUENCE THE ELECTORATE. HOWEVER, SO CAN GOOD NEWS.

• The impact of party leaders. Party leaders represent their party, they are the face ofit. Therefore it is very important for them to come across well, otherwise they couldruin the chance of their party getting into power. For example in the 1997 UK generalelection, Tony Blair, a charismatic, charming man was up against, Iain DuncanSmith, who had a very boring character, and William Hague, who was boring and,according to a poll done by the Daily Telegraph, he would say anything to win votesand he was a bit of a wally. Labour then lost power in 2010 when Gordon Brownwas in charge, a boring, unattractive man who couldn't manage a smile.

• THE IMAGE OF THE PARTY LEADER IS VERY IMPORTANT.

• Participation is essential because people don't vote and then when someone comesinto power to complain about the decisions the party is making, but if they hadvoted then the outcome may had been different. It also makes the country moreof a direct democracy and holds the government to account. Another importantfactor is it stops dangerous figures coming into power, such as in France in2002, leader of the extreme right party, the national front, Le Pen came secondin the presidential elections, he is has some very extreme views which couldpotentially be become dangerous if backed with power, this all came very close dueto low voter turnout.

• However, there are arguments that say participation isn't as important as peoplemake out. People have sufficient means in their lives and do not feel the need toparticipate. They have different priorities. Or they may participate in ways that maynot seem political, but are, such as joining environmental campaigns or just localassociations.

VOTING SYSTEMS.

• FIRST PAST THE POST - This is the current voting system used in the UK. TheUK has 650 constituencies. Voters choose a candidate for their constituency whichrepresents a party. The winning candidate only needs the majority of the votes, nota percentage.

• Advantages - It produces a strong link between the candidate and theconstituency. It produces a strong and stable government.

• Disadvantages - Parties can come into power with as little as 35% of thevote, which does not represent what the public's vote and doesn't givesmaller parties a chance.

• ADDITIONAL MEMBER SYSTEM - This is the system used in the Scottishparliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Greater London Assembly. The electorategets two votes, one vote goes to the candidate and the other goes to the party.The first vote then goes through the first past the post system and the second goesthrough proportional representation system.

• Advantages - Develops a strong popular leader because the electoratevoted directly for them. It also give the electorate a choice, if they dont likethe candidate for their constituency but do like the party, they can vote forthe party and vote for another candidate, it makes the country more of adirect democracy.

• Disadvantages - It is possible that it could create confusion by having twoclasses of representative.

• REGIONAL PARTY LIST - This is the system used in the European parliament.Each region is given 6 candidates. The political parties then compile lists of thecandidates in descending order. The electorate is given one vote and they votefor the party. Then the number of votes a party gets represents the amount ofcandidates that go through to the European elections.

• Advantages - It is essentially the only 'pure' system of proportionalrepresentation and therefore is fair to all parties. It also gives women andminority candidates a chance to be elected, provided they are on the party'slist.

• Disadvantages - As it gives smaller parties a chance, it could produce aweak and unstable government. It means that parties have a possibility ofbecoming too powerful as they decide where candidates are placed on thelist.

• SUPPLEMENTARY VOTE - This is the system used to vote the London Mayor intoplace. The electorate is given two votes, one for your first choice and one for yoursecond choice.They then count the supplementary votes and apply it to the top two

parties that had the most amount of first votes. The party or candidate that get's50% of the vote wins.

• Advantages - This system ensures that fewer votes are wasted than inthe first past the post system. Also as the winning candidate has to secure50% of the votes, a broader range of views have gone into influencing theoutcome, therefore it is more democratic and legitimate.

• Disadvantages - The outcome could possibly be determined by supportersof small, maybe extreme parties.

• SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE - This is the system used in the Northern IrelandAssembly. Ireland has 18 constituencies and 6 candidates. Parties are allowed toput up as many candidates are there are seats for constituencies. The electoratethen ranks the candidates from 1 to 10. If a candidate fills their quota with votes,the votes are past on to the next reference. The candidate with the least amountof votes is then passed around.

• Advantages - It capable of achieving high levels of proportional outcomes.The electorate has a wide range of choice.

• Disadvantages - The proportionality can vary. It is unlikely to produce astrong and stable government.

• MULTI-PARTY SYSTEMS.• The term multi party system means when minor parties are not big enough to win

seats at Westminster so they span out over other bodies who use other votingsystems, rather than first past the post system, such as the Scottish parliamentwho use the additional member system of voting, the European parliament whouse the regional list system and the Northern Ireland Assembly who use the Singletransferable vote. For example, The Green party. despite winning 250,000 votesin the 2005 UK general election, they could not get a seat in Westminster, butthey do have two seats in the Scottish parliament, two seats in the Greater LondonAssembly and two seats in the European parliament.

• REFERENDUMS.• The term referendum is a public vote created by the government on possible

political and constitutional changes, so the public decide instead of the government.This makes the UK more of a direct democracy. In the UK referendums are mainlybased on people in power, whether in Australia referendums decide on moregeneral topics, such as the rights of Aboriginals. Referendums educate the publicand get them more politically involved, however, some people may argue thatthey produce poor outcomes as the public are generally uneducated in politics. Referendums also ensure that the government doesn't become too powerful,making the country furthermore democratic. Although the rule of law ensures this,it does not have any impact on the laws the government make. Referendums couldweaken parliament as the decisions are not made under careful debate, this could

be seen as undermining parliamentary sovereignty, but it is not always about carefuldebate, a democracy is meant to be about what the people want. That is why theyonly give the public decisions where it effects the entire country not just a sectionof society, for example, if the whole country voted on the rights of immigrants, theirwould be many people who are bias and many people who are racist and manywho simply don't care, this would cause an unfair outcome, so the governmentcall in specialists from all areas to make the important decisions that directly affectsections of society. An example of a recent referendum is the 2011 May election onwhether to reform the UK voting system, from first past the post to Alternative vote.

PRESSURE GROUPS.

• A pressure group is a group who had a particular interest or cause and their aim isto pressurise the government into changing their policies or laws. They can go aboutthis in a number of ways. Insider groups work with the government and tend to stayout of the media, while outsider groups have no special links to the government andtend to gain all their support solely through the media and publicity stunts. There arearguments that pressure groups are creatures that strangle efficient governments- this was once said by a cabinet minister.

• CAUSE GROUPS - A cause group is a pressure group that has a shared interestwith it's members, therefore it has an open membership, allowing anyone to join whoshares an interest for their cause. Cause groups ten be outsider groups, thereforethey have no special links to the government and tend to rely on the media to gainpublicity. It depends on the funds of the group to how much publicity they gain;Fathers4jusitce saw a man dressed as batman scaling Buckingham palace, but themake poverty history campaign sold millions of bands, held 5 major Live 8 concertsand hot celebrities such as Bob Geldof and Bono involved.

• Some people feel that cause groups antics strangle government, they mayfeel that scaling Buckingham palace was inappropriate and an invasion ofa National treasure.

• However, others may see it as necessary, the father4justice campaignneeded to get their message across as they felt the judicial system wasfailing them and they were getting denied the right to see their children.

• People may also feel that Cause groups strangle government due to themake poverty history campaigns, as they raised so much publicity it almostforced the government into acting as it became clear how many people wereeffected by the issue and it could have resulted in some form of retaliation.

• However, others would say that it was a just cause they were saving livesand if they needed to hold 5 concerts to get the attention of the governmentthen that it what they must do.

• INTEREST GROUPS - Interest groups are pressure groups that work mainly withthe government as they are insider groups with closed memberships restricted toa certain section of society such as TUC, CBI, NUC, Tesco etc.

• Some people may feel that interest groups strangle government as theirrepresentatives actually deal with the government directly and pressurisethem into making decisions.

• Others could justify this by saying it is for a just cause.• However, these groups can impose ideas that do not benefit the country,

only the group. For example, Tesco pressurised the local government ofWelshpool into changing it's road routes so people are forced to drive pastTesco because it brings them more business, this put small shops in dangerof closing and confused the elderly as bus routes were changed.

• The view that pressure groups are creatures that strangle efficient governmentscannot be applied to cause groups as they are mostly doing it for a just causethat can potentially save lives such as the NSPCC. However, it can sometimes beapplied to interest groups as these are more about benefiting businesses and thecommunity.

• Are pressure groups democratic?

• PRESSURE GROUPS ARE DEMOCRATIC BECAUSE...

- Outsider groups have open memberships.

- They keep the government in touch with the public opinion.

- They widen political participation.

- They promote education.

- They ensure competition and debate.

- They give minority groups a political voice.

- They voice matters that have been previously overlooked by government.

•

• PRESSURE GROUPS ARE UNDEMOCRATIC BECAUSE..

- Insider groups have closed memberships.

- Quango's are formed by the government.

- They use money to gain influence.

- They increase political inequality.

- They exercise non-legitimate power.

- They can lead to tyranny of the minority.

• In conclusion, it heavily depends on what type of pressure group it is. Outsidergroups are democratic, they have open memberships, they keep the government intouch with public opinion and they promote political participation, however, insidergroups are less democratic because they have a closed membership, they areheavily funded and they potentially exercise illegitimate power because they havenot been voted into parliament, yet they still impose their ideas onto politicians.

• DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSIDER GROUPS -

• High-profile insider groups - These groups are a mix of insider/outsidergroups. They operate behind the scenes with government but they alsoattract attention through the media and campaigns e.g. CBI

• Low-profile insider groups - These groups concentrate on creating linkswith the government and try to avoid the media.

• Prisoner groups - These groups depend on the government. Thegovernment fund them, and may have even created them in the first place.Quango's come come under this section.

• DIFFERENT TYPES OF OUTSIDER GROUPS -

• Potential insider groups - These groups aspire to have insider status buthave not achieved it yet.

• Outsider groups by necessity - These groups lack the political skills andknowledge to become insider groups.

• Ideological outsider groups - These groups have radical views that arenot looked at by government e.g The stop the war coalition.