Britain Is Considered to Be a Liberal, Representative Democracy. Discuss.
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- Category: Politics
- Date Submitted: 04/27/2014 10:14 AM
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Britain is considered to be a liberal, representative democracy. Discuss.
The political system in the UK has been traditionally viewed as a typical example of a liberal democracy. However, there has been debate on whether this is actually the case. There have been many arguments to suggest that the way the way the country is run contradicts the usual structure of a liberal democracy. There are many political and social factors that challenge the statement, and when we look at them in depth, the people with the general opinion that Britain is a liberal democracy may reconsider.
To truly answer the question if Britain is a liberal, representative democracy, we need to understand what a liberal democracy actually is. There are a fair amount of main points that make up this type of democracy. Firstly, a formal constitution is usually written, and this will include the rules and laws that the government will rule by. Secondly, the constitution reads that the state’s power will be shared between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The legislature makes law, the executive enforces the law and the judiciary judges whether these laws have been made and enforced in accordance with the constitution. These three branches must be able to work independently of each other, and one cannot dominate the other two. There should be provisions that guarantee particular rights and liberties to the citizens of the state. The representative aspect of the democracy comes in the legislature, where it is composed of the representatives of the people, who have been elected in free and fair elections. Citizens should be treated equally under the law, and should be able to participate in organisations such as churches and clubs without interference from the state, unless they break the law. The state should not hold a monopoly of the information received by citizens. Civil liberties such as freedom of speech should be allowed, so there should be no censorship of the media....
The political system in the UK has been traditionally viewed as a typical example of a liberal democracy. However, there has been debate on whether this is actually the case. There have been many arguments to suggest that the way the way the country is run contradicts the usual structure of a liberal democracy. There are many political and social factors that challenge the statement, and when we look at them in depth, the people with the general opinion that Britain is a liberal democracy may reconsider.
To truly answer the question if Britain is a liberal, representative democracy, we need to understand what a liberal democracy actually is. There are a fair amount of main points that make up this type of democracy. Firstly, a formal constitution is usually written, and this will include the rules and laws that the government will rule by. Secondly, the constitution reads that the state’s power will be shared between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The legislature makes law, the executive enforces the law and the judiciary judges whether these laws have been made and enforced in accordance with the constitution. These three branches must be able to work independently of each other, and one cannot dominate the other two. There should be provisions that guarantee particular rights and liberties to the citizens of the state. The representative aspect of the democracy comes in the legislature, where it is composed of the representatives of the people, who have been elected in free and fair elections. Citizens should be treated equally under the law, and should be able to participate in organisations such as churches and clubs without interference from the state, unless they break the law. The state should not hold a monopoly of the information received by citizens. Civil liberties such as freedom of speech should be allowed, so there should be no censorship of the media....