Democracy and Participation

What Democracy and Participation covers

Covers how democracy works in the UK and how far people take part in it: the balance between representative and direct forms, the long argument over who gets the vote, the influence of pressure groups and lobbyists, and the rights citizens hold against the state.

The 5 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Current systems of representative and direct democracyRecall questions on what direct and representative democracy each mean, how they differ, where each is used in the UK, and the case for and against extending direct democracy.Open →
• A wider franchise and debates over suffrageRecall questions on how the franchise widened, the methods of the suffragists and suffragettes, and the arguments over lowering the voting age and compulsory voting.Open →
• Pressure groups and other influencesRecall questions on what a pressure group is, insider and outsider groups, lobbying, expert evidence, demonstrations, direct action and legal challenges, the factors that decide a group’s influence, the debate over groups against parties, and the BMA and Just Stop Oil as contrasting cases.Open →
• Think tanks, lobbyists and corporationsWhat think tanks are and how they influence policy, the Centre for Policy Studies, Policy Exchange and IPPR, professional lobbying and the Lobbying Act 2014, the Greensill and Owen Paterson affairs, corporate influence and its limits, and the threat to democracy.Open →
• Rights in contextRecall questions on civil liberties and human rights, the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act, and how individual rights come into conflict with collective ones.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Democracy and Participation further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Direct democracy vs Representative democracy

  Direct democracy: citizens decide issues themselves. Representative democracy: citizens choose others to decide on their behalf.

• Positive rights vs Negative rights

  Positive rights: entitlements requiring provision by others or the state. Negative rights: freedoms protected from interference.

• Pluralism vs Elitism

  Pluralism: power dispersed among competing groups. Elitism: power concentrated among a small dominant minority.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is direct democracy?

   Model answer

   A system in which citizens themselves make political decisions directly, rather than through elected representatives — for example by voting in referendums.

2. 2

   What is representative democracy?

   Model answer

   A system in which citizens elect representatives (e.g. MPs) to make decisions and act on their behalf, and who are accountable to voters at regular elections.

3. 3

   Give three features of direct democracy.

   Model answer

   The people decide issues themselves; every citizen’s vote carries equal weight on the issue; it is continuous, "pure" democracy with no intermediary (referendums, initiatives, recall).

4. 4

   Give three features of representative democracy.

   Model answer

   Citizens elect representatives to govern on their behalf; representatives are accountable through free, regular elections; government is carried out through parties and Parliament.

5. 5

   Name a modern example of direct democracy in the UK.

   Model answer

   A referendum, such as the 2016 EU membership referendum or the 2011 referendum on the Alternative Vote.

6. 6

   State two differences between direct and representative democracy.

   Model answer

   In direct democracy the people decide each issue themselves; in representative democracy elected officials decide. Direct democracy gives continuous control over every issue, while representative democracy gives only periodic control at elections.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Democracy and Participation revision questions

What does Democracy and Participation cover in Edexcel A-Level Politics?

5 subtopics: current systems of representative and direct democracy, a wider franchise and debates over suffrage, pressure groups and other influences, think tanks, lobbyists and corporations and rights in context. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Democracy and Participation organised?

By the Edexcel 9PL0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.