FREE ESSAY ON LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

LIBERAL 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 they should be accountable to the relevant court i.e.
in the US-Supreme Court, in the UK European Court of Human Rights. Closely linked to
civil liberties are equal opportunities, in a liberal democracy there must be no
discrimination. There must be no racism, sexism, ageism or discrimination of the
disabled. One more feature is a fair justice system, anyone accused of a crime must be
offered legal representation this is to prevent any claim that they were wrongly charged
of a crime because they couldn't afford to have a lawyer to represent their case
properly. There must be a trial by jury so that the person accused is tried by his own
people. Everyone should be innocent until being proven guilty; this is so that the chance
of an innocent person being imprisoned is minimal. A liberal democracy must have a
limited government that is open and accountable to the public; the government can keep
secrets but only the ones that are a matter of national defence. The public must have the
right to scrutinise and check the government. There must also be a free press and media,
which must not be under state control, must be able to criticise the government and all
the major political parties must receive neutral TV coverage. The constitution this is a
set of rules and guidelines, which would outline and limit the powers of the government.

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 want to. E.g. 1998 the coverage of Ron Davies and his alleged homosexual and
drug taking activity. The UK has an uncodified constitution, this means the constitution
is not written in one single source. This allows the constitution to change according to
two things, Acts of Parliament. As these are passed, it is incorporated into the
constitution. The other way the constitution is fabricated is by convention (tradition).
E.g. the House of Lords doesn't delay any bills that are in the manifesto of the
government. 
However there is no fixed date for elections, the government sets the date of the next
general election, but it has to be within five years of the last one. The choice of
parties is now becoming close; they all have similar policies. The number of votes cast
is not equal to seats in the House of Commons. E.g. 1997 general elections Labour
received 43% of the votes, which was equal to 62% of the seats in the House of Commons.
The Conservatives received 31% of the votes and 25% of the seats in the House of Commons.
The Liberal Democrats received 17% of the votes but only 6% of the seats in the House of
Commons. There is now demand for electoral reform from a first-past-the-post system to
proportional representation; this is when votes are proportional to seats. In the UK,
referendums are very rare, they are used to help decide on controversial decisions or
when the government don't want to make a decision because the might lose public support.
There has only been one all UK referendum, in 1975 which was to decide whether they
wanted to remain members of the European Union. Not all the civil liberties have been
upheld. In 1984 the Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher banned Trade Unions at
the Government Central Head Quarters. This is neglecting the right of assembly. Although
The UK has introduced equal opportunities laws, there is still evidence that there is
discrimination. There is evidence that there is a higher rate of unemployment between the
ethnic minorities. Ethnic minorities also receive poorer standards of education and
housing. There has been and still is racism in the police force. E.g. in 1992, a gang
beat up Steven Lawrence, but the police investigated into his background and searched his
house for drugs instead of trying to find the people who assaulted him. Women are more
likely to be employed as temps or part time. If they do obtain a full time job, they
usually earn only 80% of male earnings for the same job. Recently there have been many
complaints that the judiciary in the UK is unrepresentative of society. Most judges are
middle class, white males who are 60 years old or more. This suggests that they are out
of touch with society and may even be biased towards people like him. There was a study
in 1989, which proved that women and people from the ethnic minorities receive longer
sentences for committing the same crime as a white male. The fact that the UK
constitution is not written in one place makes it very hard to define certain things.
E.g. it is unclear exactly what the powers of the Prime Minister are. 
In conclusion, from the statements above I think the UK is about 80-85% towards being a
total liberal democracy. It offers all of the features of a liberal democracy, but it
doesn't offer these to their full extent. To make the UK a little bit closer to becoming
a totally liberal democracy, there have been cries that it needs to reform the electoral
system from a first-past-the-post system, to one of proportional representation. However
this will make it nearly impossible to elect one party as the government, coalitions will
have to be made and then each party will block each other's ideas. The UK also needs to
have a set date for the general elections, like the USA. It would also make the UK more
of a liberal democracy if the constitution is written and clear to define the powers of
the relevant people or institutions. To stop the unrepresentative judiciary, I think
positive discrimination should be introduced to appoint more women and judges from ethnic
minorities. The main political parties have three different views on liberal democracy.
The Liberal Democrats are all for having a liberal democracy. They want electoral reform,
a federal Britain where the government will have limited power; they also want positive
discrimination in the judiciary. Labour is in the middle between having a liberal
democracy or not. They know that some reform is needed, they are currently contemplating
how to reform the electoral system, and they are also for devolution of power, limiting
the power of the government. The Conservative Party is against a liberal democracy, they
are totally happy with the current state of affairs in the UK.