Weekly Competition #28
05 April 2019WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
encouraging_road and creative_sparrow
Congratulations to everyone who gave an international example of direct or indirect democracy. Some of the examples referred to dictatorships (where the government decides without any say from the public), some examples referred to Brunei, which is ruled by a monarchy and some were examples of flawed democracies (where people are forced to vote a certain way). This was great research but didn't quite fit the brief. Well done to our primary and secondary winners this week, with their well-explained examples from Scotland and Switzerland and Ireland!
WEEKLY COMPETITION #28:
Research time!
In your sessions, you have found out about different democratic decisions in different countries around the world.
There was the hunting ban in Botswana, the climate change agreement in France, the banking payout in Iceland and the extra holiday in Switzerland.
This week, we'd like you to find out about another example of direct or indirect democracy, from a different country, then have a go at answering these questions:
- What was the vote about?
- Was the vote an example of direct or indirect democracy?
- Do you agree with the outcome?
Everyone's answers will be extra helpful when you come to write your Final piece.
Good luck, winners will be announced on Friday!
Comments (43)
The vote was direct democracy.
Although we were not there to say , we got a leaflet to choose between leaving and reamaining that is direct. If we chose someone from the local area they would choose for us and that is indirect.
EXAMPLE:
if my friends and I decided to tell someone off we could nominate one person to go and report it =indirect or we could all go have à say =direct
I don't understand what you are saying because you only started with,"I disagree" next time start off with what you are talking about.
I disagree with the outcome because when we leave ,we would need to have a Visa to go to France which is a driving distance.
The vote was about weather we should reamain the EU or leave the EU .
Brexit started in 2016
Direct Democracy is simply the concept of a democracy in which voters are able to directly impact specific issues and policies, rather than voting to give a representative or party, a mandate to decide upon policies and issues. One type of direct democracy is the referendum. In British Politics, referendums have only existed for forty years, although they have become more frequent more recently. British referendums are mostly based around consitutional issues, such as the 2016 Brexit Referendum, or the 2011 Alternative Vote Referendum. Switzerland is a more direct democracy than the UK, for instance they had a referendum in 2009 on the building of new Minarets. A true and perfect direct democracy would have votes on all legislative matters, in the model of Ancient Athens, although in a modern democracy this would be unlikely to work. A more direct democracy enables more people to directly impact politics. This can also be achieved through increasing political participation. One way to do this would be to make voting compulsory, although many people see ethical and practical issues with this. Other ways to achieve greater political participation are through lowering the voting age and compulsory political education for young people. It is thought that these measures lead to a more engaged political populace and therefore a more efficient democracy.
Please make sure all comments are written in your own words.
When I wrote my post I then after went to check google chrome to get more info and it said that there are loads of different types of democracy.
Direct democracy.-I know
Representative democracy.-Kind of know
Presidential democracy.
Parliamentary democracy.
Authoritarian democracy.
Participatory democracy.
Islamic democracy.
Social democracy.
Indirect democracy.-This one I know.
But I do not get what they mean
An example of Direct Democracy would be the independence referendium that Scotland in September 2014. Some of the SNP (Scotland’s National Party) voters wanted Scotland to be free of the UK’s rules. The outcome was that Scotland did not leave the UK. At the time I was happy, but now, (Because of Brexit) I’m not so sure. What do you think?
Example of direct democracy is brexit
A example of direct democracy is Brexit which is all about wether we should leave the European Union, I disagree with the outcome as Teresa May is not letting the UK have a second vote,she says this is happening because she believes we will all disagree with her. I believe if she thinks we will disagree with her she should let us disagree as the UK have not been told the truth during the first vote and many people are un happy with the results as they were lied to.
A example of Direct Democracy is the vote of independence in Scotland in 2014 were Scotland decided if it should
stay in the UK or not. The referendum had an unsure out come but it was decided that Scotland was to stay in the UK however it doesn't seem that the whole country actually decided on this because Scotland has kept trying to gain more and more independence. I agree that the out come was right but I don't think it should still be going on now.
An example of direct democracy is when people vote what ever they want.
An example of indirect democracy is when the mp's vote what is gonna happen.
Direct democracy is when the people vote what ever they want to vote for. An example of indirect democracy is when the MP's vote for whats going to happen.
A recent ordeal has been trump shutting down the US government, because they wouldn’t agree on his wall between Mexico and the USA. This is a form of indirect democracy because trump should of asked the people if they wanted the wall - the answer probably being no – instead of just shutting down the US government, making many citizens lose their careers until the government was up and running again.
Votes in North Korea there is something called 'no choice'. So in the SPA (Supreme People's Assembly) North Koreans can't vote for any candidates only the person in power. So the votes are always 100% going to be the person in power's way.This applies for all votes in North Korea.I definitely do not agree with this but,it will probably not change because North Korea is a very closed off country. Even worse, the 'no choice' rule applies in both indirect and direct democracy.
Direct Democracy is when everyone in a country or local area who is of voting age gets a say. This sort of democracy is normally used for decisions such as a general election. Some other less obvious examples of direct democracy include a large group of people who have formed a campaign group-for more right for people renting houses or flats. This form of direct democracy includes actions such as marches, leaflets being handed out or more violent processes such as the ones used by the Suffragettes and Suffragists.
Indirect democracy however, is where an issue is voted on by people in Parliament or another small grouip of people. A relevant example of this right now is The Brexit Deal where MP's are voting whether each deal should be passed or not. Other issues that could be decided on by a small group of people or people in parliament include university fees, more VAT being added, whether assisted dying is legal and whether the voting age should be lowered. These issues are voted on by indirect democracy as they are very big decisions to make and the more experienced people such as politicians vote on these issues instead of the general public as they will have been more informed aboiut the decision.
Direct democracy is where there is a public vote to make a decision. an example of this would be the 2016 Brexit referendum, where there was free reign for British people (people who either live in Britain or have British citizenship), who were over the age of 18 and on the electoral roll, to vote on their county's decision.
Indirect democracy is where a certain group of people are selected to vote on an issue. A good example of this is when the House of Commons voted on a no-deal Brexit on the 13th of March 2019 (if you're interested, this was rejected by MPs).
I prefer direct democracy as it is the people's decision, and even though MPs are meant to represent the people who have elected them, this is not always the case and they can be bribed or threatened, and unlike if one person was bribed out of the 65 million odd people in this country (which wouldn't have much of an effect on the overall result), there are only 650 MPs to vote on, so one person would have a lot more of an effect on the overall result.
The vote was about if England should leave the EU. I think 🤔 this vote is indirect democracy because the MPs decided that we leave the eu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The vote was about if we should leave the EU or stay in the EU , a example of indirect democracy is “ we should let the MPS one because people cannot be trusted BUT MPS can so LET THE MPS VOTE🥳🥳” and an example of dimocracy is”LET US VOTE LET US VOTE😡 we want to have a chance to express our feelings of the EU it’s not fair MPS get all the trust LET US VOTE LET US VOTE 😝😡😝😡😝😡🤓”that is a example of indirect democracy and democracy, I do not agree with the outcome(brexit) because I don’t want everything to get more expensive 😫😫 money doesn’t money doesn’t ding dong at your door ( money does grow on trees )🤯🤯 bye bye🤩
The vote 🗳 was about if the UK 🇬🇧 should leave the EU or stay in the EU,
indirect democracy is when the MP’s and direct democracy is when the people get there say I don’t agree .
Olivia I don't understand what i'm suposed to do to be the winner for the weekly competiton.
Research an example of direct or indirect democracy, from a different country, then have a go at answering these questions:
What was the vote about?
Was the vote an example of direct or indirect democracy?
Do you agree with the outcome?
The vote🗳 was about if the UK 🇬🇧should leave or remain in the EU (MP's voted in parliament)
Indirect democracy is when just parliament votes but direct democracy is when parliament and the public vote
The vote🗳 was about if the UK 🇬🇧should leave or remain in the EU (MP's voted in parliament)
Indirect democracy is when just parliament votes but direct democracy is when parliament and the public vote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In New Zealand there was a mosque attack. Only a couple of days later, Mps voted, in indirect democracy , to change gun laws due to the attack. They voted 119 to 1.
On 19 March 2011 a constitutional referendum was held in Egypt, following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The reforms made it easier for candidates to run for president, limited the number of presidential terms to two four-year periods, and ensured checking how elections are going.
In April 1993 nearly 1 million voters in Eritrea (a quarter of the population), cast ballots to become sovereign and independent of Ethiopia. This vote was the result of thirty years of war by Eritreans during their War of Independence. The result was a vote for independence by 99.8% of the voters.
1. That in Switzerland the citizens of the country have more power and that they have more power then in representative democracy and that Switzerland is a rare example of direct democracy in the world. Also that Switzerland has many instruments as well.
2. Most western countries have a high standard of representative systems.
Switzerland probably has the most direct democratic system in place than any other modern country were the citizens have a direct say on the majority of their policies. Not only that, it’s also possible to force the government to start a referendum about any subject you want, if you have 50,000 signatures. And, on the whole, it seems to work reasonably well mainly because it is a small country. However I decided to focus on Ireland instead, it runs a parliamentary democratic system. Not like the political system in Switzerland, but similar to the UK, but without the constitutional monarchy and with different voting systems. Ireland is fascinating because it does offer a direct democratic vote (referendums) on key policies alongside it’s own political system. It became independent from the UK in 1922 and the other thing is, it’s usually considered to be a conservative and religious country.
However, two significant referendums have recently appeared to reflect a more liberal changing attitude of it’s citizen and it’s precisely the use of these well planned referendums that have transformed Ireland, in my opinion, for good. The 2 important votes were held in 2015 on a vote for the same gender marriage with 62% votes in favour and the 2018 vote to allow abortion (up to 12 weeks) with 66.4% majority votes.
I personally agree with the outcome for both laws to be put in place because I believe these are the fundamental rights for all human beings and because of these changes it has totally liberalised Ireland for good.
Considering abortion was allowed in the UK (except Nothern Island) since 1968, it does seem archaic that our neighbouring country has never had the rights up until now. Upon my research, I came across some awful cases that really enforced my views further such as:
-The Sheila Hodgers case (mother of 2) died after being refused cancer treatment as it would harm the foetus; baby died too.
-Dr. Savita Halapanavar case (died of sepsis caused by delayed abortion).
If you want to hear both sides of the debate, here is a link https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-43338266/irish-abortion-referendum-two-women-s-stories
There are many cases were women travel to England to have abortions. And I can imagine, having an abortion in itself would be a very traumatic event.
The vote represents pro-choice and I am for that choice (even if I’m young) I am for women’s rights to make their own decisions. I would also understand that if you are against abortion, that would be your fundamental rights as well. But not everyone has the same beliefs just like how not everyone is religious. So, therefore, nobody should have the right to impose their beliefs on others.
https://irishelectionliterature.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/swp-abortion-pamphlet.pdf
North Korea has a bunch of laws which are unfair in my eyes. Some of these include: keeping a bible in your house, fleeing the country, not wearing state approved hairstyles, not voting, not morning on the death date of Kim Il-sung, driving a car or any other vehicle and making international phone calls. You are NOT allowed to do any of these.
There wasn't really a vote involved in any of these because North Korea is one of the least democratic places in the world. If you don't follow these rules, it either results in execution or being sent to a labor camp. Since there is no vote involved it was all indirect democracy. I don't agree with the outcome because there is no freedom for the people, they're not respecting others because you're not allowed to keep a Bible in your house and they all result in something that's not fair on the people living in Korea. Also, if they want to flee they have every right to. You can't really blame them for running away.
I think I've done this entry wrong, can someone please tell me.
I chose the election in Thailand as an example. The vote is about who will form the government of Thailand. The vote is an example of direct democracy as everyone has a say on who will run the government. I disagree with this vote as the country have now back-tracked and said that the vote was not counted properly. This means that it has to be counted again and this is more hassle than having the MP represent their area. In addition, it is not the whole country that is voting as the voting turnout was only 65%. This implies that 35% of the country are either not allowed to vote or cannot be bothered to.
Some votes are unfair. For example in Brunei they made a vote : Brunei is introducing strict new Islamic laws that make homosexuality and adultery offences punishable by stoning to death.
So I don't agree with the vote because you shouldn't be stoned to death just because of your sexuality.
Direct democracy is when the people make the laws and vote on what the country should do.
An example of direct democracy is when the people of Brunei made the decision of stoning LGBTQ+ people to death as punishment. Being LGBTQ+ was already illegal in Brunei but the citizens decided to take this to the extreme.
Personally I think this decision was barbaric and inhumane because it is a horrible thing for a person to do to someone because of something they can't control. I also think that we as a society of humans had stopped killing people as punishment. It seems that we have gone back to our old ways and before you know it we will have forgotten about our discovery of fire too.
The country of Brunei have implemented a new law where they would stone people of the LGBT community to death, personally I think that this is a very barbaric decision and this law shouldn't be permitted as lives would be at risk. As a person who knows a lot of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people, they would be appalled by the decision the Brunei government have decided to place into their book of laws. This is shocking!
This law that the country have decided to make is disgusting as I think that being LGBT means being yourself and anyone no matter if your homosexual (gay) , heterosexual (straight) or even bisexual you can still be you however stoning people to death is unacceptable and doing this shows that the country is not a place to be if you're being yourself. #BeYou #LGBT
Direct democracy is allowing the public to vote on issues rather than having elected individuals decide what should happen to a country. In the UK there was a referendum in 2016 about whether we should exit the European Union. In other countries there are contrasting votes on completely different matters for example in Mexico which has seen revolt recently regarding the Zapatista Rebel Movement and Organisation.
The Zapatista rebel group actively and directly challenge the ideology of the Mexican government. They fight for rights of the indigenous population of Mexico and have done since the mid-90s. They strive for equality in work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice and peace in their country. Furthermore, they address limitations that their communities have faced since the struggle and conflict about rights and living standards.
A new political, economic, social and cultural relationship between the Mexican Government and indigenous peoples was formed as a result of the Zapatista insurgency but there is still much more to fight for in my opinion.
An example of indirect democracy is happening in New Zealand where the council are planning to ban all domestic cats. The cats that are already owned will have to be micro chipped, registered and neutered and when the cat dies the owner will not be able to get another one. This would be bad because if someone has a problem with mice then their cat wouldn't be able to catch them any more. Also, if you were planning to get a cat then imagine how sad you would be if you were told you couldn't get one any more. On the other hand cats have been catching a lot of native birds and the improvement for birds would be vast.
I have chosen the 2016 election of USA president. It was a direct democracy however in the background of the close votes between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton there were apparently a large number of misleading information. Hillary Clinton was in the lead in the pre-election nationwide poll and although she won more votes nationwide Mr Trump gaind more electoral votes which placed him in the lead with his 'we will make America great again' compain. The election of Mr Trump was widely protested and many people insisted it was boosted by Russian interference. He has since made many decisions without the consent of the public such as separating immigrant families. He has been largely critisized on the internet for his negative views on women and the LGBT community. He is most well known for his promise to build a wall between the USA and Mexico which is partially built however his claims should've been backed up by substantial funding. I don't find this election very fair since he won by only electoral votes and his views weren't very clear or selfless. Many people did not agree with him and still don't to this day.
Sometimes in votes indirect democracy is good, like in the referendum, no-one knew what to vote for. However, all the politicians knew which side to vote for. And in the mosque attack in New Zealand, the politicians voted for what was best for the country, if the vote was given to the people in the public for as much as we know half of the population in New Zealand might be gunmen. But, in some cases direct democracy is useful like in Syria the president doesn't let the people vote for a new president, one time four boys graffitied on a wall: ' doctor, your time is over.' And he ordered soldiers to find them and torture the boys, only one survived after that day. And another time people on the street were protesting to have a new leader and he ordered his soldiers to gun down all of the people, it is estimated 200 protesters died that day as well.And in North Korea only one family will be able to take power of the country, so far the leader right now is Kim-Yong Un. He killed his farther so he could grab power a soon as possible. Sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad(direct and indirect democracy).
One vote that happened recently was that countries in the EU voted if they wanted to keep our current time zones, or keep to either GMT or BST. People are not sure yet how the UK will be affected, because Brexit has been delayed to an indefinite date. This is an example of indirect democracy, because the politicians voted, not the public. I do not agree with this decision because we already have the problem of the Brexit deal that we have to deal with, let alone deciding which time zone to stay in. Also, this could affect the whole world's time zones, because we are always going to be a different time to other countries. For example, France is one hour later than us, however now we are either going to be at the same time as France, or France is going to be 2 hours in front of us now.
Indirect democracy is where the citizens of a democratic country vote for and elect a Member of Parliament and trust them with making the best decisions for their area. These MP's will manage their district and also vote in the Houses of Parliament. An example of this is the recent vote on whether we should continue to roll the clocks forward in the UK.
Direct democracy is where each individual citizen votes on a particular issue. These are normally larger issues which will drastically affect society or the economy. However in Switzerland, every citizen has the opportunity to vote on all political issues ranging from school fundings to presidential figure.
I believe the correct model is that of a model similar to the UK with some direct and indirect voting systems taking place.
an example of indirect democracy is Trumps wall because know one got to decide how they felt about this
When Switzerland had the more holiday vote, they have voted against taking more holiday. It was good for people if they have chose to have the holiday because they could have a six week off holiday a year but, it is also a bad thing because if they chose to have the holiday straight away then they would have to work longer the year all the way to the end.
What will you choose if there was a vote about taking more holiday from school?
In a direct democracy, individuals make all the decisions themselves. For example, they will vote on proposed laws. ... An indirect democracy is when we elect representatives to make the laws for us such as in Congress or in the state legislatures.
At the begin I found it really hard. But as I got through this websites I finally found some examples to reach my goal and as I got to my goal I got some work to do more because I had some Little Problems of what I’m writing but I got through it.
Well done!
I thought about trying to be open-mined this week and with that I’ve realised that students can actually be part of indirect democracy because when you become a class representative it’s speaking upon your classes or years behalf
Direct democracy is when the public have a vote, usually on a referendum or a general election and has come from Ancient Greece many years ago. An example of direct democracy was the vote for the Israel general election. Currently the Israeli citizens have been voting on who should be the next leader of Israel and this has led to many votes and ballots being put in. It is direct democracy since it allows all of the votes to be counted and considered in votes. I agree with the outcome since it makes people think and participate in decisions to learn more about the decisions as well. It also gives a chance for the unheard public votes to be considered and to be heard of rather than the MPs voting on their behalf and the public’s vote being hidden away.
Indirect democracy is when the MPs (leaders of constituencies) have a vote on what should happen. An example of indirect democracy is Theresa May’s no confidence vote. A ‘vote of no confidence’ is when the MPs decide if they want the government to continue to take charge of the country. In this case, Theresa May won the no-confidence vote by 325 MPs – 306 MPs which means that she can still continue to lead the government. Even though she won the confidence vote, the outcome might have been a little bit embarrassing for her party as she only won with a small majority of 19 MPs. The way in which this is indirect democracy is that we elected the MPs by direct democracy as we voted for them without anyone being able to vote on our behalf but the MPs voted for the vote of no confidence using indirect democracy, not us since us citizens cannot vote for these decisions. I do not agree with this indirect vote since it was only a majority of 19 votes and we did not get a chance to vote directly to express our opinions. I know that most of the votes are decided by using indirect democracy, however, as this vote is so significant and is questioning the leadership of our country and the big change of leaving the EU, I think that the vote should have been decided directly. I feel that we should all have a say about such an important vote and decision.
I agree with direct democracy rather than indirect democracy since everyone has a say on decisions and there might have been some perspectives that we have not heard of. Direct democracy is good because each and every citizen has a voice and therefore feels like they have contributed to the decision.
I will try my best!