Aqa as unit 1 govpol

There are already like 2 threads for this.
But im doing Pressure groups and voting behaviour
Wbu?

just 2?
what if there is an awful question for one of those topics?

Im revising them in depth, doing model answers for all past questions.
Give me an example of a 'nasty' question on one of those topics and ill try and help (if youre doing them also)

Im revising them in depth, doing model answers for all past questions.
Give me an example of a 'nasty' question on one of those topics and ill try and help (if youre doing them also)

Just a general question but what types of VB questions are there and how do you repond to them?

Participation crisis
and VB in elections.

Participation Crisis?

Define participation - any action which has an affect on the political sphere, important in democracies as power is supposed to ultimately lie with the people.

-YES
Turnouts traditionally best way to measure participation.
Extremely low turnouts
85% in 1950 GE
66% 2015 GE,
65% 2010 GE
Why? Disillusionment, decline in social capital(individualism and consumerism promoted), two main parties ideologically centralised
Partisan Dealignment, less than 1% of UK population belong to a PP
Modern politicians lack vision,
Thatcher and Blair very strong leaders with clear ideals,
Now we have 'catch all' politicians who only want to appeal to middle england

BUT
Other forms of participation on the rise
Dissilusionment in party politics has lead to rise in PG politics and protest movements.
More people members of RSPB than political parties combined
Social movements e.g feminism and environmentalism very important, PGs can be single issue but PPs cannot.
E-democracy on the rise, e.g 38 Degrees facebook page allows petitions to be started and these petitions have been influencial e.g the Save the Forest campaign resulted in the government abandoning plans to sell off public forests. Started one person linking an article to the page

however many RSPB members 'cheque book members', so undermines the idea that it promotes participation.
Many other PGs also internally undemocratic which also undermines this e.g Muslim Council of Britain, Greenpeace

Conclusion,
NO participation crisis, simply other forms of participation rising
-Turnout in GEs slowly rising, was 59% in 2001 general election.

Participation crisis
and VB in elections.

Participation Crisis?

Define participation - any action which has an affect on the political sphere, important in democracies as power is supposed to ultimately lie with the people.

-YES
Turnouts traditionally best way to measure participation.
Extremely low turnouts
85% in 1950 GE
66% 2015 GE,
65% 2010 GE
Why? Disillusionment, decline in social capital(individualism and consumerism promoted), two main parties ideologically centralised
Partisan Dealignment, less than 1% of UK population belong to a PP
Modern politicians lack vision,
Thatcher and Blair very strong leaders with clear ideals,
Now we have 'catch all' politicians who only want to appeal to middle england

BUT
Other forms of participation on the rise
Dissilusionment in party politics has lead to rise in PG politics and protest movements.
More people members of RSPB than political parties combined
Social movements e.g feminism and environmentalism very important, PGs can be single issue but PPs cannot.
E-democracy on the rise, e.g 38 Degrees facebook page allows petitions to be started and these petitions have been influencial e.g the Save the Forest campaign resulted in the government abandoning plans to sell off public forests. Started one person linking an article to the page

however many RSPB members 'cheque book members', so undermines the idea that it promotes participation.
Many other PGs also internally undemocratic which also undermines this e.g Muslim Council of Britain, Greenpeace

Conclusion,
NO participation crisis, simply other forms of participation rising
-Turnout in GEs slowly rising, was 59% in 2001 general election.

-------------------------------------------

Hi, I just did this answer, but I talked about something different for the no side of participation crisis. This is what I did...

Yes:
Low turnouts
2001- 59.4 % compared to 1950 84%

Political party membership decreased
CON -1950 (2 MILL MEMBERS) compared to today under 150,000
LAB- 1990s (400,000 - peak because of Blair) compared to 250,000

No:
The increased use of referendums has given voters another avenue to participate in the political process
But not only that, some have delivered higher turnouts than general elections
E.g 2014 Scottish Independence referendum, 84% turnout and 1975 EEC referendum 65% turnout

Rise of pressure group activity
In 2012- 1 mill members for RSPB more than all three major parties
(I could include that point about the members being cash book members though, so thanks for that)

In conclusion, the UK government should try and address some of the deeper problems within our democracy like elitism, concentrated centralised power, restricted data access and of course the FPTP system in order to increase electoral participation. As non- electoral participation is on the rise which means that there is no participation crisis.

Please feel free to give me advice and criticism, thank you

I dont know if i would talk about the Scotland referendum.. Only Scots could vote, not the whole of Britain. And that's a pretty rare case.

Okay, thanks I guess I could still include the one about the EEC membership right?

How are you feeing about tomorrow?

Do you think it's necessary to add an introduction/conclusion to a 10 marker if I identify and explain two points and always link them back to the question posed?

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4095219

The EEC membership was a long time ago no?
Im feeling ok, im just scared that they'll drop a nasty question.

I'm doing the same as you VB and electoral systems do you have any guess as to what the questions may be

I'm doing the same as you VB and electoral systems do you have any guess as to what the questions may be

Shall we do quick fire questions to eachother?

Like for example;

What is an initiative and give me an example of where it has been used?