A discussion on whether democracy in the modern world amounts to the periodic right to dismiss an unpopular government.
This paper discusses how democracy is best defined as ?the rule of the mass of people?, although there are other possible definitions and much debate on the issue. It attempts to analyse the true definition of democracy and debates whether it is what we still experience it in the U.K today.A conceptual (historical) evaluation of ‘democracy’ leads to comparison of the U.K. system to that of the U.S.A in an attempt to find out. Consideration is also given to the influence of the EU and QUANGOs on British democracy.
“Once a party has won government, the constitutional system proceeds to generate a strong executive that then dominates the legislative. It is suggested that coupled with the strict party discipline evident in Westminster the ability of representatives to act in the interests of those they represent is greatly hindered, and one might therefore deduce that the power of the citizen and the effectiveness of their votes has been damaged. It is simply the case that the executive dominates Parliament, rather than the other way round. When Select Committees try to hold the government accountable for its actions they are invariably fobbed off and their reports are ignored. In any case, their membership is in the hands of the government of the day.”