Democracy and Political Participation

1. Democracy and Political Participation public control political participation political equality differences between direct and representative democracy

2. L5: Democracy and Political Participation • To understand that there are different forms of democracy • To know what the term direct democracy means • To consider how direct democracy differs from representative democracy

3. Democracy flourished in Athens 2,500 years ago. At the time, Athens was a small city state. In this system, all citizens who were entitled to vote would gather in the town and vote on the issues of the day (Of course, not all citizens were allowed the vote; slaves and women were not entitled to take part! ). At that time, people who were entitled to take part in the democracy, would vote on the issues to be decided directly for themselves. The ordinary men allowed to decide for themselves how things would be decided. This was a brand new idea. “Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people” - Pericles of Athens, 431 BC Do you think this was true? Was power in the hands of the “whole people” in Athens? This system is known as DIRECT DEMOCRACY

4. Research and read the article • Answer these questions: • What ruling systems, other than democracies, (e.g. oligarchies) are mentioned in the article? • What does the article say are the three key differences between modern democracy and the Greek • democracy? • What involvement did the voters have in the courts?

5. Could direct democracy like this flourish in your classroom? What about your wider school?

6. Democracy, although an old idea, was not popular or taken seriously again until the 18th and 19th Century. TASK - given the problems that you identified with direct democracy, what alternative system would you suggest to deal with it? Strategy/Solution/ Possibility Problem

7. TASK - In order to consider some different views of democracy, your mission is to create a fictional dinner party scene in which you discuss whether your nation should be a democracy or not. Each of the dinner party guests must have one of these quotes and use this as the basis of their argument for or against democracy. (You will need to be confident that you understand your quote before you use it to formulate your argument). George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman 1903 President Abraham Lincoln 1863 v Brooks Atkinson 1894-1984, The Times 15 June 1957 John Stuart Mill, liberal philosopher 1806-1873 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contact 1968 v G.K. Chesterton, New York Times, 1 Feb 1931 Winston Churchill, speech in the House of Commons 11 November 1947

8. Democracy

9. Complete the definitions with the missing words DIRECT DEMOCRACY Involves the _______and _____________________ of citizens in Government (like the Athens model) REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY Involves _______ government by the people, through _________________elected by the people. indirect direct representatives continuous participation direct continuous participation indirect representatives

10. 1 thing I am not sure about 2 question you would like to ask 3 things that you have learnt this lesson

11. L5: Democracy and Political Participation • To understand that there are different forms of democracy • To know what the term direct democracy means • To consider how direct democracy differs from representative democracy