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EnglandPoliticsQuick questions
Component 1: UK Politics and Core Political Ideas
Quick questions on Democracy and participation: representative and direct democracy, suffrage and the participation crisis - Edexcel A-Level Politics
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is evidence of a crisis?Show answer
General election turnout fell to 59.4 per cent in 2001, the lowest since 1918, and has only partly recovered since. Party membership collapsed: the Conservatives had around 3 million members in the 1950s but under 200,000 today. Partisan and class dealignment suggest weakening engagement, and many local and police-and-crime-commissioner elections see turnout below 30 per cent.
What is evidence against a crisis?Show answer
The 2014 Scottish independence referendum reached 84.6 per cent, showing engagement when the stakes feel high, and party membership revived after 2015 (Labour reached around 500,000 under Corbyn). Above all, participation has changed form: single-issue pressure groups, e-petitions (the 2019 revoke-Article-50 petition gained over 6 million signatures) and social-media activism show people participate through issues rather than parties. On this view the UK has a participation shift, not a crisis.
What is q1?Show answer
Explain and analyse three features of representative democracy. [9 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Evaluate the view that the franchise should be extended to all UK residents aged 16 and over. [30 marks]
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