democracy
A liberal democracy is a system of governing a country. It is one in which the citizens of the country have total freedom and equality. In a liberal democracy, the legislature, executive and the judiciary are kept separate to avoid power resting in one place. There are many features which make up a liberal democracy, these are. Elections they must be free and fair, there must be a choice of political parties, with different views/opinions and policies. A secret ballot must be held so that the voter does not feel pressured into casting a vote for a political party that they do not want to. The government and Parliament must be elected by and accountable to the voters. The elections must be regular, e.g. the USA have elections every 5 years. The government must call referendums on important issues. Finally, the outcome of the elections must be respected thus allowing power to change according to public demand. Another feature of a liberal democracy is civil liberties. The citizens must enjoy a high degree of civil liberties, like freedom of speech, assembly, movement, property, and conscience. There must also be social freedom like divorce and abortion. These liberties must not be taken away or abused by the government otherwise t
In the United Kingdom the electoral system is free and fair. There is a secret ballot and universal suffrage of 18 plus. There is arguably a choice of parties and the outcome is always respected, there are not many referendums but the ones that they have are on constitutional matters, e.g. 1997 Referendum on whether Scotland should have its own parliament. In the UK there is a high degree of civil liberties, we have a relatively free society, we have free speech, assembly, property, conscience/religion, equal opportunities and social freedom like abortion. The UK is a signatory to the European convention of Human Rights; this is an organisation that protects the civil liberties of all its members' citizens. Recently the Blair government has tried to incorporate this into UK law so that it can be upheld in British courts. There have been a lot of laws, which encourage equal opportunities. E.g. In 1965,1968 and 1976 race relation laws were introduced. In 1975 the sex discrimination act was introduced. In 1970 the equal pay act was introduced, in theory this meant that men and women should earn the same amount for the same job. The judiciary is kept separate of the government; this is to avoid decisions being made to please the government. There is trial by jury and the hypothesis that someone is innocent until proven guilty, there is usually legal representation. To avoid any unfair treatment, the police can only detain you for 24 hours without charging you. The judges are chosen and promoted on merit and experience. The government is relatively open; the opposition has the right to scrutinise the government. The leader of the opposition is paid a state salary and given five questions a Prime Minister's question time. The media also expose government secrets. E.g. 1993 arms to Iraq and 1994 cash for questions. The government is accountable to the public because the public has elected them. If the government loses a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, and then a general election is held, this is because the House of Commons are a representation of the public. This has happened in 1979. All the press and media are free and can broadcast anything, except the BBC that is state controlled. Despite this, the BBC and all other terrestrial channels offer unbiased coverage especially at general elections where each major political party is given the same amount of time for party political broadcasts. The media and press are on the whole allowed to cover whatever story they wan
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1679
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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