What's Right or Wrong with Democracy?

If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it"- Ken Livingstone 1987  What flaws are there in the democratic system in the UK?  To what extent do these flaws invalidate the claim to democracy by the UK political system? The phrase "If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it" was coined by Ken Livingstone, which he used as the name of his auto-biography in the late 1980s. This comes from a man who has been "around the block" in political terms: he ran to be elected for a third term as London Mayor, was elected as the Member of Parliament for Brent East through the 80s, and ... more

Modern democracy, some suggest, is close to crisis. I set out to consider to what extent modern democracies do suffer from a problem of declining political participation and how this problem can be solved. The alleged problem can be tackled in four stages. Firstly (1), it is necessary to see whether participation is indeed declining, by looking at empirical data, and if so, how far and whether this trend is likely to continue. In dealing with this, (2) it will be necessary to look of a variety of possible reasons that can be identified – and these will have a bearing on later solutions ... more

Ah Democracy, what an angelic term. Today we fight in the name of such a government in the effort to preserve a perfect living environment for all concerned. Heaven on Earth one could call it, where everyone is equal and working together. It just sounds so brilliant to my ears, everything would be great. Sadly however, 'Democracy' is a label that is stuck on to too many societies these days which are more despotic than anything else. Even I, a Brit, can safely assure you all that my country is no Democracy in the true sense of the word, and nor is the world's protector, our 'brother' in arms ... more

I can imagine that most people would answer this question by talking about democracy as it is constitutionally or institutionally. This would inevitably lead to discussion over such mechanisms as the ballot box and the political parties and who really drives them. However when talking about democracy, political structure is only as important as culture if we consider the role of human relationships in harvesting the crops: economic, political and social power pre-exist these relationships resulting in a complex network of people being simulataneaously dominated and repressed in different ... more

I never really had an interest in politics until i began studying it as part of my course at college. Even though it wasnt the easiest subject to understand, i almost began enjoyed studying it because the topics were about things that happen all the time in Britain. Having said that i began to realise that ''democracy'' in today's politics is questionable. The government are able to use a position known as parliamentary sovereignty which basically means that ABSOLUTE power lies with parliament. So with this in mind do the electors really have a say in what goes on? At present the only decision ... more