Contents

What is democracy?
What is representative democracy?
What is direct democracy?
What is liberal democracy?

What is democracy?

Democracy is a system of government where the main power lies with the people. There are many different forms of democracy, but the two main forms seen in the UK are ‘direct democracy’ and ‘representative democracy’.

What is representative democracy?

Representative democracy is based on the principle that we elect individuals (Members of Parliament) to represent us in the work of government. These MPs represent out interests to the best of their ability but operate within the context of parliament; they are not delegates who are sent to parliament with specific instructions, they are representatives who use their knowledge and judgement to make decisions on our behalf. This is often called the ‘Burkeian view’ after Edmund Burke who summed up the essence of representative democracy:

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion. (Edmund Burke)

What is direct democracy?

Direct democracy differs from representative democracy as it is a ‘purer’ form of democracy – the people, rather than relying on representatives, have a direct input into government. The way in which this is exercised in the UK today is through the use of referendums. In a referendum voters are asked to voice their opinion on a specific issue or question. The result of this vote can be binding (the government must act in accordance with the outcome) or advisory (the government should take on board the outcome but do not have to act a certain way). The questions posed in referendums are framed by the government of the day. In some countries initiatives operate alongside referendum, through which voters can also initiate legislation.

What is liberal democracy?

‘Liberal democracy’ is the modern term for a state in which the government does not interfere with the free market (and imposes only minimal regulation), preserves basic civil rights (such as expression, assembly, association, movement etc) and allows people to vote in free and fair elections on a regular basis. Most western democracies are therefore described as liberal democracies.

How do representative democracy and direct democracy coexist in the UK?

It may seem odd to have two different forms of democracy within one government system. It can be argued that the aspects of direct democracy actually encourage and strengthen the system of representative democracy that we have:

• Referendums can help focus the electorate on specific issues
• A parliament now lasts for 5 years since the Fixed Term Parliaments Act (2010) – this is a long time, and so using a referendum on a key issue acts as a ‘refresher’ for the mandate of the government – especially if circumstances have changed since the previous general election
• If the government were to make drastic and significant constitutional changes by legislation alone they could be criticised for lacking legitimacy – therefore constitutional changes should be made with explicit public approval

Despite these benefits, many argue that referendums and other tools of direct democracy actually act to undermine the system of representative democracy. The key issue being if we have elected representatives to act in our interests and on our behalf, they should not need to repeatedly consult the electorate, especially when referendums take a large amount of time and money, potentially diverting both funding and attention from other important issues.

• The repeated use of referendums implies that our elected representatives are abdicating their responsibility to make decisions and govern effectively
• Representatives are elected on the belief that they are capable of making decisions and judging the issues on our behalf – it is only right that they do this
• Representatives have a wealth of information and resources at their disposal to fully understand complex issues and the impact of their decisions – the electorate are limited in this way
• The electorate will (generally) make decisions which are seen as in their immediate and personal interests, whereas politicians make decisions based on the principle of the collective good, especially decisions that may be unpopular but in our long term interests