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Flashcards in Unit 2 Deck (59)
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1
Q

What does ‘demos’ mean?

A

People

2
Q

What does ‘kratia’ mean?

A

Power

3
Q

What was the ISIS petition?

A

Called ‘Ban all ISIS members from returning to the UK’.

Got over 500k signatures before being debated in Parliament. Debated May 2019.

4
Q

Turnout for the AV vote?

How many voted yes to AV?

How many no?

A

41%

32%

68%

5
Q

What was the turnout of the Scottish Independence Referendum? (2014).

How many said yes to independence?

How many said no?

A

85%

45%

55%

6
Q

What was the turnout of the Brexit referendum (2016)?

Remain vote?

Leave vote?

A

72%

48%

52%

7
Q

What did Edmund say about Representative democracy?

A

A representative betrays his judgement if he “sacrifices it to your opinion”

8
Q

What did Rousseau say about representative democracy?

A

As soon as members are elected, “the people is enslaved”.

9
Q

How much of the vote did the Tories win in 2017? (%)

What was the turnout for this election?

A

42%

69%

10
Q

In 2010, how many MPs were uni graduates? How many UK adults?

A

90% MPs

20% adults

11
Q

Evidence to suggest turnout is bad:

A

We’ve never topped the 70% figure since 1997. 69% in 2017.

1950 turnout = over 80%.

12
Q

Evidence to suggest turnout is good:

A

There’s been a small recovery since 2001: 59% in 2001 to 69% in 2017

13
Q

Evidence to suggest referendums have good turnout:

A

Scottish Independence Referendum had a 85% turnout.

14
Q

Evidence to suggest referendums have bad turnout:

A

AV = 41% turnout

15
Q

What Article does banning prisoner voting go against? When did the UK find a compromise?

A

Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

2017

16
Q

What was the turnout of general election in Germany in 2013?

What was the turnout of the USA’s presidential election (2016)?

A

Germany = over 70%.

USA = 55%

17
Q

Name a famous suffragette

A

Emmeline Pankhurst

18
Q

When was the Ballot Act? What did it do?

A

1872 - all voting now in secret to deter corruption/intimidation.

19
Q

Equal Franchise Act?

A

1928 - now all adults 21+ can vote

20
Q

Representation of the People Act?

A
  1. Most adult men (21+) and some adult married women (30+) could vote
21
Q

What is one of the stunts that ‘Fathers4Justice’ have done?

A

David Chick climbed a 120ft crane while dressed as spiderman

22
Q

What pressure group is involved in lobbying and likely has access points?

A

The NFU (‘National Farmer’s Union). These access points include local, regional and national levels. Lobbying = seeking meetings with ministers to put forward your case.

23
Q

Which groups are known for public campaigning?

A

Plane Stupid, Countryside Alliance, Greenpeace

24
Q

Which group has used illegal methods? What did they do?

A

‘Plane Stupid’ - wanting to show dangerous of airport expansion, so they trespassed at Heathrow Airport in 2016 and disrupted flights.

25
Q

What group has a large membership?

Which groups have lots of funds?

A

Age UK - can put more pressure on decision makers.

Business pressure groups ‘Institute of Directors’ and ‘Confederation of British Industry’. Can hire lobbyists.

26
Q

What is Labour more sympathetic towards? Tory?

What group was resisted by Blair?

A

Labour = The FBU (Fire Brigades Union) in 2017

Tories = Countryside Alliance.

‘Stop the War Coalition’ (2003).

27
Q

What is the powerful countervailing group to ‘Forest”?

A

ASH - anti-smoking pressure group.

28
Q

When was Justice For Gurkhas (SECTIONAL) active?

When did the government release a limited law?

When did Lumley meet the immigration minister?

A

2009 - fighting for Nepalese soldiers served in British army to settle.

April 2009 - Gurkhas can only settle if spent 20 years in the army.

May 2009

29
Q

When did Lumley win?

A

May 2009

30
Q

What was the new law?

A

Gurkhas who have served at least 4 years in the army + have retired before 1997 can settle.

31
Q

Failure of the Gurkha campaign?

A

According to the British Gurkha Welfare Society, campaign resulted in 1000s of elderly + frail pensioners living in poor accommodation w/low incomes.

32
Q

What do ASH campaign for? Insider or outsider?

Success/failure?

A

Prevent harm caused by tobacco. Insider (uses lobbying).

Success = have blocked attempts of the tobacco industry to derail negotiations of the Tobacco Treaty, which would work to control tobacco.

Failure = have not had success in altering gov policy in area of e-cigs.

33
Q

Name a right-wing thinktank

Name a left-wing thinktank

A

‘Adam Smith Institute’ - promotes free-market solutions to economic problems.

‘Fabian Society’ - social justice

34
Q

Name a neutral thinktank.

A

Demos - current political issues

35
Q

What does Jamie Oliver do? Why do celebs influence gov?

A

Lobbies government to tackle childhood obesity.

Media attention and public sympathy hard to ignore.

36
Q

When was the Human Rights Act signed? When did it come into force?

A

Signed 1998, came into force in 2000

37
Q

List 3 cherished civil liberties

A

The right to not be imprisoned without trial.

The right to have a fair trial.

The right to vote and stand for election.

38
Q

List 2 freedoms that the Human Rights Act enshrines into UK law

A

Freedom from torture

Freedom from servitude

39
Q

When was the Freedom of Information Act passed? What does it do?

Race Relations Act?

Equal Pay Act?

A
  1. Allows people to find the out info held by tax authorities, social security, etc
    1965

1970

40
Q

When was the Equality Act passed?

A

2010

41
Q

Name 4 things that reveal a healthy democracy.

A

Free elections - anyone (unless underage) can vote. Limitation = no voted in Lords.

Widespread participation, eg pressure groups + referendums. Limitation = low turnouts.

Freedom of association, eg Blair Stop the War coalition. Limitation = hatred associations banned.

Protection of rights, eg HRA 1998. But, limitation = it isn’t binding.

41
Q

What did Ed Miliband do that increased political participation?

A

Made it possible in 2015 to join the party for just £3. Allowed a broader section of Labour supporters to vote in leadership elections.

41
Q

What could be done to make the UK more democratic?

A
  • Encourage active participation. Lower voting age + make wider use of online petitions.
  • Deliver fair representation. Can be done by redrawing electoral districts.
41
Q

What could get more people voting?

A

Compulsory voting. + = inc legitimacy. - = right not to vote.

Votes for 16. + = laws affect them too. - Tory viewpoint - 16s vote for libsz

Digital voting. + = an extension of clickocracy. - = result if unexpected would not be as accepted (maybe hacking).

42
Q

What are the aims of Amnesty?

What are the aims of Fathers4Justice?

What is Greenpeace concerned with?

A

Put pressure on govs to get rid of death penalty; human rights.

For fathers to have equal custody rights to mothers
The environment.

43
Q

What beneficial functions do pressure groups perform?

A
  • call gov to account, eg Greenpeace.
  • To educate, eg Amnesty.
  • To lobby, eg the NFU.
  • to increase participation,
  • To give fringe people more of a say, etc EDL against Islam.
44
Q

What do promotional groups campaign for? Give examples.

A

Broad causes. Amnesty = human rights, Greenpeace = environment.

45
Q

Give an example of a promotional group’s narrow cause.

A

Stop HS2 - focuses on rural areas.

46
Q

Why are sectional groups different? How are some of them hybrids?

Give an example of a sectional group.

A

Sectional groups pursue interests of a section. ‘Countryside Alliance’ focuses on the countryside, but claims that everyone benefits from it.

Muslim Council of Britain.

47
Q

Why aren’t Google (sectional group) ignored by the gov?

What specially privileged position do insiders enjoy?

A

They have an importance place in the economy - so have resisted calls for more UK tax on their profits.

They are put on special gov committees, eg the National Farmers Union (sectional) + can lobby.

48
Q

What are lobbyists sometimes criticised for?

What do lobbyists do?

A

Hardly neutral - exist to promote a particular interest, and are criticised for being the ‘hidden face’ of influence.

Arrange meetings with politicians to further a group’s case.

49
Q

What do think tanks do?

A

Carry out research into policy areas, and are used by gov / private sources.

50
Q

When has the government occasionally suspended its adherence to the ECHR?

A

In times of heightened terrorist threat, eg holding terrorists for long periods without trial after 9/11.

51
Q

How do human rights extend beyond civil liberties?

A

Extend to having decent standard of living, access to good healthcare, etc.

52
Q

Advantages of representative democracy; disadvantages.

A

Advantage = reps have superior judgement, less swayed by emotion.

Disadvantage = total social representation is difficult to achieve.

53
Q

What 8 things reveal that we live in a representative democracy?

Direct?

A

Constituencies; electoral comission; expectation on the government; pressure groups; manifesto + mandate (after public permission; parties reveal diff options; decentralisation eg Sadiq Kahn 2016.

Increased referendums + Epetitions.

54
Q

What are the rules behind Epetitions?

A

10k = response from gov; 100k = debate in Parliament.

58
Q

Advantages of direct democracy; disadvantages.

A

Avoid deadlock and delay. Increased legitimacy.

Can lead to ‘tyranny of the majority’.

59
Q

What petition reached 2 million signatures in February?

Give an example of a public Marx.

A

To revoke article 50. Signatures climbed to 5 million. But, May refused to consider.

‘Put it to the People’ March in February. Over a million people joined.