“Our voting system worked well for decades but
now it is broken. There is a better way to give voice to the people”
By: David Van Reybrouck
Published: 29 June 2016, The Guardian,
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/why-elections-are-bad-for-democracy
Level of Difficulty: ****
Note to the student or teacher: this
activity is unsuited to class work and can only work as a self study exercise
as it is rather long. It is difficult to find a text of this level of
difficulty that isn’t.
WATCH, LISTEN AND CONSIDER
- Anger over BREGRET http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-anger-bregret-leave-voters-protest-vote-thought-uk-stay-in-eu-remain-win-a7102516.html
- EU Referendum http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-bbc-question-time-audience-member-sums-up-the-problem-with-leave-or-remain-vote-a6912191.html
- What did democracy really
mean in Athens? http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-did-democracy-really-mean-in-athens-melissa-schwartzberg
QUESTIONS
1.
BREXIT is
described in the text as a blow to democracy because of two reasons referendums
are…………………………and the electorate was………………………………………………
2.
The people
who took part in the World Values Survey seemed…(Mark as many as appropriate)
·
To value
democracy above all else
·
To value
totalitarian leaders above all else
·
To want to
have their cake and eat it
·
To be fed
up with democracy
·
To be
contradicting themselves
3.
The
negative attitude of Europeans to political parties and democratic institutions
is a serious threat to democracy because…(use your own words to interpret the
message in the text)
4.
According
to the writer the growing distrust should also mean that people start to…
5.
Read the
quote from Jean Jacque Rousseau. This example has been included in the text to
support the view that:…
6.
Which
sentence constitutes the thesis statement of the text?
7.
The list
of examples including Spain Austria and Belgium all prove that….
8.
The
procedure is to blame for democratic fatigue syndrome because the electorate
are…(Select as many as appropriate)
·
Misled
·
Mistreated
·
Mishandled
·
Kept in
the dark
·
Not given
a voice
·
Denied
opportunities to think
·
Denied
opportunities to discuss
9.
The
mistake we make when interpreting the message of The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights is…
10.
The writer
is critical of the belief that the way to introduce democracy to developing
countries is that
11.
What truly
democratic institutions do donor countries seem to disregard?
12.
By
comparing the export of democracy to commerce the writer is implying that we
are… (Select as many as appropriate)
·
Oversimplifying
the system
·
Disregarding
the philosophy
·
Misdirecting
peoples
·
Defeating
our purpose
13.
Are the
following true or false according to the text?
·
In the
case of democracy, the widely held belief is that one prescription fits all
·
The belief
in elections can be compared to religious fervor
·
The fact
that elections worked in the past means they can work today
14.
The writer
believes that we need to rethink the role and function of elections because
there has been a radical change in …………………………………………….since they were first
proposed.
15.
We
understand from the text that the current system worked well in the post second
world war years because the major parties……………………………………………..
16.
There is a
negative correlation between the birth of……………………………and ……………………
17.
Read the
quote from Colin Crouch and the example that follows. Now decide whether the
following statement is true or false:
Elections
are the only true way to ascertain the will of the people and for them to participate
in government”
18.
The birth
and spread of social media involvement should have helped the development of
democracy by giving people a voice. What is the catch?
19.
The
reasons for the above have nothing to do with painting a true picture and
everything to do with ….
20.
The
behavior of commercial and social media has, in effect, put …….front and center
whereas it should be ………………………….that take precedence.
21.
The
solution the writer proposes involves
·
Limiting
the number of people involved in policy decisions.
·
Returning
to the Athenian model of direct democracy
·
Not having
people queuing up at polling booths every 4 or 5 years
·
Letting
people who care about their communities be heard
22.
What is
the underlying logic of sortition?
23.
The Irish
experience with sortition proved that this system of drafting works because…
24.
It is
implied in the text that sortition would have prevented BREXIT because
·
Everyone
would have contributed directly to the decision making
·
There
would have been better understanding of the issue
·
More time
would have been spent weighing the pros and cons
·
Everyone
would have been able to talk to each other
25.
What are
the basic advantages of sortition?
26.
The
purpose of the jury example is to show that………………………….
27.
The
purpose for the mention of the Netherlands example is to show that…………..
28.
How does
the writer refute the main argument against sortition? By indicating that……………………………………………..
29.
Read the
last paragraph and decide which of the phrases below could be correctly used to
complete the sentence: If David Cameron had resorted to sortition,
·
He would
have upheld democracy more successfully
·
He would
have gained a better understanding of public wishes
·
He would
have been in a better position to govern
·
He would
have gained worldwide acclaim
·
He would
have become a democratic leader
WRITING
TASK
Use the
videos and the text to write an argumentative essay on whether or not sortition
can help make our society more truly democratic and whether it will help
promote effective public engagement.
WHY
ELECTIONS ARE BAD FOR DEMOCRACY KEY AND TEACHERS’ NOTES
This is a sophisticated essay on a very thought
provoking issue: the role of elections and referenda in democracy. As such, it
is long, complex and very well argued. This being the case, it is completely
unsuitable for class work. The student does not even need to complete the text
at one go; there are natural stopping places. The essay task needs to be completed at one go however.
1. Are primitive procedures; disenchanted and
poorly informed
2. 3 and 5; the others are too strong
3. The system may collapse (The phrase “How much
derision can a system endure…” implies that it cannot endure this much
derision)
4. To ask whether elections in their current form
are a badly outmoded technology…/ OR reflect on the tools that our democracies
use
5. The system of delegation to an elected
representative may have been necessary in the past but…
6. Referendums and elections are both arcane
instruments of public deliberation. The rest of the paragraph is support.
7. By refusing to change procedures, we have made
political instability and turmoil defining features of modern democracy
8. 1, 4 and 7
9. Seeing the specific method as a basic right, as
if the procedure in itself was sacred
10. They hold elections, preferably in the Western
model
11. Village meetings, conflict mediation and
ancient jurisprudence
12. All four are correct
13. T, T, F
14. Context
15. Succeeded in being close to the lives of
individual citizens
16. Commercial mass media and organized civil
society
17. False
18. Commercial and social media reinforce one
another – picking up each other’s news and bouncing it back to create an
atmosphere of perpetual mudslinging.
19. Tough competition, loss of advertising revenue
and falling sales
20. Short term and party interests / long term and
the common interest
21. The first
22. A cross section of society that is informed can
act more coherently than an entire society that is uninformed
23. By talking to a diverse cross-section of Irish
society, politicians could get further than they could have by just talking to
each other; by exchanging views with elected officials, citizens could give
much more relevant input…
24. The second
25. The risk of corruption is reduced, election
fever abates and attention to the common good increases
26. Many countries rely on the principle of
sortition.
27. Sortition is becoming a permanent feature of
modern democracy
28. The elected need staff and researchers to fill
the gaps in their expertise
29. 1,2,5
