Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation, or to choose governing officials to do so. Who is considered part of "the people" and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries, but over time more and more of a democratic country's inhabitants have generally been included. Cornerstones of democracy include freedom of assembly, association, property rights, freedom of religion and speech, inclusiveness and equality, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.
Participatory democracy or participant democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected representatives. Elements of direct and representative democracy are combined in this model.
Clive Stafford Soley, Baron Soley is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2005, and has since then served as a Member of the House of Lords.
Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury St Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 to 2010. He joined the House of Lords in 2010 and is currently the British Trade Envoy to Algeria and Lebanon.
Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, was an English politician and human rights campaigner. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Orpington from 1962 to 1970. He then served in the House of Lords, having inherited the title of Baron Avebury in 1971, until his death. In 1999, when most hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords, he was elected by his fellow Liberal Democrats to remain. When he died, he was the longest serving Liberal Democrat peer.
E-democracy, also known as digital democracy or Internet democracy, is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in political and governance processes. The term is believed to have been coined by digital activist Steven Clift. E-democracy incorporates 21st-century information and communications technology to promote democracy; such technologies include civic technology and government technology. It is a form of government in which all adult citizens are presumed to be eligible to participate equally in the proposal, development and creation of laws.
The parliamentary committees of the United Kingdom are committees of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each consists of a small number of Members of Parliament from the House of Commons, or peers from the House of Lords, or a mix of both, appointed to deal with particular areas or issues; most are made up of members of the Commons. The majority of parliamentary committees are select committees. The remit of these committees vary depending on whether they are committees of the House of Commons or the House of Lords.
Roger Norman Freeman, Baron Freeman, PC, is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major from 1995 to 1997. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Kettering from 1983 to 1997, and was made a life peer in 1997.
Vernon Bernard Bogdanor is a British political scientist and historian, currently research professor at the Institute for Contemporary British History at King's College London and professor of politics at the New College of the Humanities. He is also emeritus professor of politics and government at the University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford.
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community.
See: Constitutional reform of the United Kingdom
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. POST serves both Houses of Parliament.
The POWER Inquiry was established in 2004 to explore how political participation and involvement can be increased and deepened in Britain. Its work is based on the primary belief that a healthy democracy requires the active participation of its citizens.
Philip Norton, Baron Norton of Louth, FAcSS FRHistS Hon LLD, is an English author, academic and Conservative peer. He has been described as "the United Kingdom's greatest living expert on Parliament" and "a world authority on constitutional issues."
Public engagement or public participation is a term that has recently been used to describe "the practice of involving members of the public in the agenda-setting, decision-making, and policy-forming activities of organizations/institutions responsible for policy development." It is focused on the participatory actions of the public to aid in policy making based in their values.
In governance, sortition is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates. The system intends to ensure that all competent and interested parties have an equal chance of holding public office. It also minimizes factionalism, since there would be no point making promises to win over key constituencies if one was to be chosen by lot, while elections, by contrast, foster it. In ancient Athenian democracy, sortition was the traditional and primary method for appointing political officials, and its use was regarded as a principal characteristic of democracy.
Shirin M. Rai, is a political scientist, known for her research on the intersections between globalisation, post-colonial governance, processes of democratisation and gender regimes. She is the Director of the Gendered Ceremony and Ritual in Parliament Programme, a four-year interdisciplinary project funded by the Leverhulme Trust that studies the performances of ritual, ceremony, symbolism and affect in the British, Indian and South African parliaments.
Citizenship education is taught in schools, as an academic subject similar to politics or sociology. It is known by different names in different countries - for example, ‘citizenship education’ in the UK, ‘civics’ in the US, and ‘education for democratic citizenship’ in parts of Europe. The different names for the subject is mirrored in the different approaches towards citizenship education adopted in different countries. These are often a consequence of the unique historical and political developments within different countries.
My Life My Say (MLMS) is a youth-led, non-partisan charity based in the United Kingdom on mission to empower young people to participate in democracy. The charity does this by creating spaces for dialogue across communities and generations, and by providing young people, particularly those who are socially excluded, with the tools to lead change within society.
David Millar OBE was a Scottish civil servant who contributed to the work of three parliaments. His experience of the UK House of Commons (1953-1973) and of the European Parliament (1973-1989) led to his drafting the Standing Orders for the future Scottish Parliament. The draft document co-authored with Sir Bernard Crick proposed working methods that diverged from the Westminster model, and several of these were adopted by the newly-formed Scottish Parliament in 1999.
