1.1.3 Advantages and disadvantages within democracy

Advantages of Direct Democracy:

• Represents the voice of the people.
• Decisions made by the people have more authority and legitimacy to be carried out
• Direct democracy entices people to educate themselves on political issues as they have the ability to have direct impact on policies and politics as a whole and people need to be informed to make decisions.
• Increases public engagement as regular public debates and discussions help improve engagement. (e.g., British Social Attitudes: 43% had 'a great deal'/'quite a lot' of interest in politics in 2017 after Brexit)

Disadvantages of Direct Democracy

• Impractical – the number of issues in modern society plus the size of the population makes decisions difficult. (e.g., In the 2021 Switzerland referendum banning full facial coverings (51% Y, 48% N), the Swiss government had to justify an anti-Islamic outcome).
• The majority view is not always wise, moral, or legal (illustrated by Swiss referendum).
• The tyranny of the majority as minority groups are overlooked by the outcome.
• Low turnouts mean a minority are deciding for the majority, undermining the legitimacy of the decision and arguably undemocratic (e.g., in 2011 the referendum turnout for AMS was 41%).
• Votes tend to be because of emotions rather than practicality considerations (e.g., BSA found 73% of people worried about immigration voted Leave).
• Populist outcomes as people vote for short-term measures benefiting them rather than considering national/social interests.

Advantages of Representative Democracy:

• Elected representatives may have better judgement than many people. Elected representatives are more rational. Protect the interests of the minorities. Representatives are better informed than the public
• It is a pluralist system with a range of views represented (different parties) and there is less tyranny of majority/minority.
• Decision-makers can be held to account through general elections and by-elections (e.g., 115 years of Conservative dominance in North Shropshire ended by a 2021 by-election bringing in LibDems)
• It allows for citizens to have a local representative who can raise concerns or seek redress of grievances.
• Constituencies: Geographical region. Voters vote for a representative in the specific region. For example, Rushunara Ali is the MP for the constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow, and she is from the Labour Party.
• Political parties: Unified by a set of core beliefs and principles at the heart of the party. Parties have members who share the same beliefs and policies. Conservatism is adopted by the Conservative Party whereas the Labour Party have the ideology of socialism

Disadvantages of Representative Democracy

• Electorate becomes disengaged through periodic general elections rather than consistent decision-making that encourages participation.
• The pluralist system allows for the existence of major/minor parties, FPTP means less representation from minor parties – encouraging political apathy, and discouraging participation.
  • The existence of low turnout illustrates the unrepresentativeness of the system – turnout has remained below 77% since after the 1997 election.

• Representatives are difficult to be held accountable between general/by-elections.
• Representative democracy can result in too much political conflict which is resolved by direct democracy (e.g., the issue of EU/Euroscepticism existing since 197ffs, resolved in 2ff16).
• Representatives may act as delegates rather than trustees – putting their or their parties' view, rather than their constituency's view.