Democracy In The

Democracy is shared by many nations around the world, the UK being one of them making it a democratic society, this gives citizens the right to have a voice within their country regarding political matters e.g. voting for election, this is done by first past the post which entails all people eligible to vote and have their say and express views on who they want to be their prime minister or members of parliament (local MP). The way we use this system to determine who will be prime minister is by seeing who has received the most votes across the nation once the votes are counted whoever has the highest votes will be elected as the prime minister.

Through different decades we have witnessed historical figures who have enforced their views of democracy within their countries, Martin Luther King was a prime example within democracy he was a Baptist minister and a social activist. King organised a boycott against the transit system in Montgomery, Alabama due to racial segregation that was imposed on African Americans, whilst using the transit service. A woman named Rosa Parks was arrested due to not following the racial segregation this encourage over half of the transit users exactly sixty percent, which were African Americans to stop using the transport service and showed a form of unity against racial segregation this boycott lasted 381 days and finally came to an end on the 20th December 1956 when the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision declaring that Montgomery’s segregation laws on buses were unconstitutional and revoked racial segregation on this service sending waves across the nation. Another example of democracy was Nelson Mandela attempt to overthrow his government in respect to racial segregation, Nelson Mandela got incarcerated due to standing up for his beliefs in what was right. A lifetime sentence was imposed upon Mandela, but he only served twenty-seven years as growing concerns of a racial civil war breaking out in South Africa. Upon leaving prison he then strived and achieved presidency of South Africa being the first black male to be elected. Mandela again strived for equal rights through democracy and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

A student union is a democratically run organisation which provide a voice, fairness and opportunities this is run by entrusted students who wish you uphold the student body. Student unions are epicentre of the students opinions and views, when student unions are presented by other students with issues or improvements to the campus or learning, the students involved in the union would debate the proposals and come to a decision unanimously if agreed a certain proposal will be beneficial this will be presented to the relevant teachers to make change happen. Another example of a democratically run organisation would be a council generally located in different cities these are known as country councils these are made up of people who are chosen by an election system and a country alderman decided by the council its self the main role the county council are responsible for social care, transport planning, education, waste disposal and highways. The way the country council take a democratic approach on making decisions by holding council meetings where they discuss areas, they are responsible for and put together decisions with everyone’s views in mind in regard to what is best for the community.

The way people in the U.K. could participate within democracy could be by joining political parties, standing for election, joining debates, signing petitions and going to lawful protests.