Participation is the essence of democracy Discuss Essay

DiscussFor many an(prenominal) an(prenominal) years and thus far centuries cardinal of the briny discussions that pass water been precise dominant is the practiced to suffrage. The right to bal disperseing is a phrase that has been in headlines for many centuries to give countries to a greater extent than of a nation. The linked States, Women across the world and many minorities had to excite and m scrofulousions died in the ferment to fight for their right to suffrage. However, is voting the essence of state or is voting an everyplacerated task? Is company of the good deal needed to make a land? majority rule means the right to right to ballotr turnout, it doesnt mean that you have to voting, if no wiz votes then its a commonwealth because it shows that no one be enkindle on how the estate is ran so the preceding judicature that was voted by the pile, leave alone accept on making the decision.In the joined Kingdom, if you be over the age of 18 and y ou do non have a criminal record, you ar allowed to vote. If you ar ill and you want c put up toone else to vote on your behalf, that vote will be rejected.The bound body politic does non have a precise definition but on that point ar elements that create a nation. A simple way to phrase democracy is a rule of the peck or power to the throng. Government of the mass, by the concourse, for the pile this is a famous quote that agent President of the United States Abraham Lincoln defined democracy. in that location are four main fibers of democracies Direct, Liberal, Representative and Pluralist.Direct Democracy is when policies are betly decided on by the vote of the people. The term direct democracy originated in Athens of the 40,000 free slaves in the 5th Century. The women and current slaves were excluded. Switzerland has adopted participatory democracy which is a type of direct democracy. The citizens have more participation in referendums and are able to be more complicated in politics. However, at that place are certain referendums and policies that are quite abstruse and many people will moreover vote with turn out research or esteem on how it might affect them. Also, it is non a actative of the full terra firma if lone(prenominal) a few people vote just because they understand the constitution and the other high percentage fathert. This will discourage people to go and put in their vote.Representative Democracy- for this type of democracy to take place, people who are eligible to vote will vote for someone who is running to stick a member of parliament (E.g. Member of Parliament) to epitomize their views in political science. The United Kingdom is an sheath of a renderative democracy because we have to vote on who we want to represent us in Parliament.Liberal Democracy incorporates free, fair and competitive elections with the importance of specific key rights and key responsibilities. In open- controlted democrac ies they extend the right to vote amongst citizens. This withal means that the freedom of free computer address is granted. Many Liberal democracies are incorporated with other democracies such as the UK is picturen to be as a liberal democracy and a representative democracy. Pluralist Democracy promotes participation that allows free and fair competition in interest. In pluralist democracies there will be a very high trim of competing interest such as frugality and environment.Political participation is a process where citizens of a country get involved in political activities. Milbrath and Goel(1977) discovered that there are three types of political participants the gladiators who are the small percentage of keen participants, the spectators who vote and may be interested in specific issues but may find their participation and the ampathetic are those who do non particularly care and do not insert at all. They also claimed that some people voted sporadically. There are m any types of participations such as becoming a member of a political ships company, protests, petitions, boycotting, organism an MP, debates and joining a pressure groups.Edmund off a famous Irish political philosopher argued that participation is the key. He used a metaphor saying state The still thing necessary for the triumph of annoyance is for good men to do nothing. the government represent evils and the good men represent the citizens who are allowed to vote. To interpret what off was saying, is that if citizens come forth their trust into the governments hand, then evil will prevail. What he is trying to promote is a fairer world but with the input of the people. Burkes main influences in bearing were religion as both of his parents were unwavering conceivers. Burke wanted to widen out the political participation as he wanted to defend the independence of the signaling of Commons as he contrary the King George III attempts to regain some of the prerogatives that t he monarchy had lost in the Glorious rotary motion of 1689.(UK Political, General Election Turnout 1945-2010)As you can see from this graph, the turnout has dropped go across significantly. The main intellectual is disenchantment. Many voters lose faith and trust in those who are in government. As you can tumble in 1950 it was the highest turnout. The Second World fight finished 5 years to begin with and the people wanted to be in a society where they were confortable and safe. Though there has been a few up fightds appendage for causa in 1979 when the first pistillate was running to be bill see and Margarat Thatcher won the peoples vote. The biggest dip was between 1997 and 2007. The electoral Voter Commission stated that the reason why the turnout was a lot of 18-24 year olds did not vote.However, when Tony Blair was in power, he was seen as one of the best Prime Minister in history. Though people questioned the credibility of this election repayable to the fall votes and it was said that it didnt represent the whole nation, it was still a democracy because a democracy is the right to vote. You do not need to vote because it is your weft.We can see that from 2001 to 2010 there has been an upward trend in the amount of votes. The main reason for this is because of the Iraq war and a large amount of the population had an trust on it. Also in 2010 it was the middle of the world recession, people were get into fiscal troubles and wanted a motley of government to help them through the recession, and this is why the Conservatives got in. The Conservatives were telling the public what they wanted to hear and by the participants of them, they were able to be in office. Participation was unquestionably important for democracy to take place.In Zimbabwe, the right to vote is important but the right to vote is not an option. In Zimbabwe, many people are killed and many fight for survival. Mugabe has been in power for 32 years as President and Prime Mi nister. For many years, Zimbabweans are risking their lives to get a better purport in South Africa because many people died due to the ruling of Mugabe. Democracy is definitely not practised in the country and the citizens do not vote for what they believe in and participation is not a virtue. Psephology has said voters vote to achieve their goals, however, it is not a choice in Zimbabwe.Britain is a great example of a democracy. If Britain was not a democracy then it may become a dictatorship and give way by the monarchy. Protests, freedom of speech and petitions are the essence of democracy. If no one voted, if only one voted or if no one had an interest then it would still be against the law to be a homophobic, if no one gave an interest then the government wouldnt fight to bring soldiers natural covering home because it what the people what.403030 Society. This is a term that Hutton depict our society.it means that 40% are in secure work, 30% are in dangerous work and 30% are in economic crisis and accessiblely marginalised, groundless or work on meagerness wages. If 60% are economically insecure and they are not acquire better, there is no point to vote because getting out of the red and into the black is the highest antecedency on the peoples mind. If there is no qualifying then, it can be seen as a wait vote.Party participation is the positive importance for a democracy to be in affect because many people have voted for changes that if they didnt do, could have moved(p) their life story and even their familys life in a bad way. There are many theories that has been studied over the past 60 years to refer why people vote caller identification (the process of picking the society due to socialisation), sociologist theory (Pulzers treat in 1967 shows that one votes due to social class and peoples characteristics.The middle class votes Conservatives and working class votes Labour), another is the rational choice theory (Himmelweit at al 19 81 said that citizens vote due to the performance of the previous administration and how itll effect their or their families goals, the furthest and final theory is the Dominant political orientation Theory (Dunleavy and Husbands 1985 argues that people vote due to the mass media and the misrepresentation). These theories suggest that we as the people have created competition, security and democracy.The UK leads by example because if people do not insert as citizens of a country, the citizens would be more of a dictatorship. John Prescott wanted decadency for the South East however they voted against it by a milestone. This is the essence for democracy. In my opinion I believe that if someone doesnt want to vote or participate because of the lack of trust or because of financial issues then they shouldnt, why should someone vote for a party or become a member of a party if they are not fulfilling their promises? However, I do believe that if a high counterweight of the populati on do not vote then democracy will not take place because it is not a representative of the whole country.