2013 past paper How accurate is it to describe Britain as a fully democratic country by 1918?

PLAN INTRO – Context and define your terms: – What are the features of a democracy? – Did Britain have these? MAIN BODY – Analyse each feature, problem & solution – argue whether full democracy was achieved. – FAIRNESS – ACCOUNTABILITY – RIGHT TO VOTE (EXPANSION OF FRANCHISE) – CHOICE – ACCESS TO INFORMATION – OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME AN MP CONCLUSION – Summarise the ways in which it was democratic and argue why it was not by Who is still excluded? What has not been tackled?

Introduction Democracy is defined as ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’. For any country to be democratic, certain conditions have to exist. First of all, adults should have the vote but the vote in itself did not make Britain democratic. Between 1867 and 1918, other features were created that included a fair system of voting, a choice of who to vote for and access to information to make an informed choice. It should also be possible for adults to become MPs themselves and Parliament should be accountable to the voters. Between 1867 and 1918 most, but not all, of these conditions had been met fully so Britain was more of a democracy but not fully democratic.

Democracy The Right to Vote Fairness in elections Accountability Choice of party Access to Information Opportunity to become an MP

Look at the table and decide where each reform would fall in your paragraphs. Identify the problems and the solutions (reforms). argument What would your argument be?