ATTRIBUTES OF DEMOCRACY Top ten things you need to know

WHAT IS POLITICAL LIBERALISM? 1 WHAT IS POLITICAL LIBERALISM? Democracy the people have a voice – decisions based on majority rule also have to respect the minority that disagreed with the decision because all individuals have rights – not just those that agree with the majority.

2 WHY DEMOCRACY IS GREAT allows the greatest amount of freedom responds to the will of the people encourages people to be more creative allows for the peaceful and orderly change of government

WHY DEMOCRACY IS NOT GREAT 3 WHY DEMOCRACY IS NOT GREAT majority can ignore the minority = tyranny of the majority is it really majority rule if only 50% +1 vote for something? how long it takes to make a decision; pluralism = many opinions and voices often the elite get more access to government; government representatives can start seeing themselves as the elite VOTER APATHY!

4 DIRECT DEMOCRACY all people rule in all aspects one man - one vote Rules for direct democracy all people rule in all aspects one man - one vote open communication to spread information educated society

WHY USE REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY 5 WHY USE REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY most citizens in a society don’t have the time or interest to become fully educated in order to make informed decisions representative democracy = as a citizen I only have to make one decision – who am I going to vote for to represent me in making all of the decisions

WAYS TO ENSURE OUR REPRESENTATIVES DO THEIR JOB 6 WAYS TO ENSURE OUR REPRESENTATIVES DO THEIR JOB representation by population - protects minorities because the poorest individual has the same voice as the richest person. periodic elections – ensures that the government has the mandate to rule

SOME MORE WAYS TO ENSURE OUR REPRESENTATIVES DO THEIR JOB 7 SOME MORE WAYS TO ENSURE OUR REPRESENTATIVES DO THEIR JOB secret ballot - this protects the minority (not afraid to vote for a party that may not be all that popular) independent courts – essential for rule of law

TWO MORE TECHNIQUES TO ENSURE DEMOCRATIC IDEALS ARE PROTECTED 8 TWO MORE TECHNIQUES TO ENSURE DEMOCRATIC IDEALS ARE PROTECTED political parties – whichever party gets the most votes demonstrates that this is the ideology the majority of the nation support. power of the purse

ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE SURE REPRESENTATIVES ARE REPRESENTING 9 ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE SURE REPRESENTATIVES ARE REPRESENTING interest or lobby groups – not directly part of government but influences legislative processes

ONE MORE WAY TO KEEP THOSE REPRESENTATIVES HONEST 10 ONE MORE WAY TO KEEP THOSE REPRESENTATIVES HONEST free press tells us what the government representatives are doing we can use it to influence our politicians

LOBBY GROUPS/ELITE RULE

Northwest Territories 44.1 1   Population (2015, in thousands) # of MPs (2015) Average size of ridings Ontario 13,792.1 121 114.0 Quebec 8,263.6 78 105.9 Nova Scotia 943.0 11 85.7 New Brunswick 753.9 10 75.4 Manitoba 1,293.4 14 92.4 British Columbia 4,683.1 42 111.5 Prince Edward Island 146.4 4 36.6 Saskatchewan 1,133.6 81.0 Alberta 4,196.5 34 123.4 Newfoundland 527.8 7 74.4 Northwest Territories 44.1 1 Yukon Territory 37.4 Nunavut Territory 36.9