Representation - A Concept of Democracy

Is Britain a Democratic Country?

1) Introduction

Equality

When and how did democracy evolve?

2) Is Britain democratic?

Characteristics of democracy

Socialism

Thatcherism (freedom/independence)

Ombudsman

United Nations

European Union

3) What would make Britain an undemocratic country?

Privatisation/nationalisation

Class/capitalism

Trade Unions (Arthur Scargill - TUC)

Fascism: Political Parties (BNP)

Pressure Groups: CND, Greenpeace

Terrorism

4) Conclusion

Democracy transient or a red herring?

ABSTRACT

Democracy refers to the relationship between Government and the people of its society.  'It was not until the 1832 Reform Act and extensions of franchises by other Acts right up to the period of 1969, that a political system evolved between Government and its people.  Parliamentary democracy has taken centuries for evolutionary development to take place' (F N Foreman, 1985).  He goes onto argue how British Parliamentary democracy started to occur from Simon De Montfort's Parliament of 1265 to the outbreak of Civil War in 1641.  This included changing relations between the Monarch and representatives of various estates of the realm.  The Bill of Rights, introduced in 1689, created a more prominent constitutional relationship between the Monarch and his Ministers.  F N Forman, 1985, claims how 'democracy is neither easy to describe or explain as in certain respects it is changing yet it is still the same.  Government decisions are no longer founded upon a broad political consensus as they were after the Second World War.  Changes in British society and a decline in our relative national performance, give a good explanation and answer to Britain being democratic.'  Britain is more democratic now than it was in the 19th century.  Nevertheless, Britain leaving the European Union in 2020 has definitely changed this somewhat!