Representative Democracy Analysis

This essay will argue that independents and minor parties improve the quality of representative democracy with a focus on the federal political system of Australia. In arguing from this viewpoint, the features of a representative democracy must first be established, where the core of this debate stems from concerns as to whether Australia’s political stance stands as a pendulum democracy or consensus democracy. This essay presents the view that the Australian federal system leans towards a consensus democracy, thus the remainder of the essay will focus on whether independents and minor parties improve the quality of consensual representative democracy in Australia. Firstly it will be argued that minor parties and independents enhance the multi-party feature of representative democracy (Vatter 2009), that also improves minority rights. Secondly, independents and minor parties have increased accountability of the government, through their involvement in the Senate (Thompson 1999). Lastly, it is argued that minor parties and independents improve mirror representation (Catt 1999, p. 91) and foster the best interests of society, and hence improves representative democracy.

Representative democracy refers to a form of government where citizens transfer authority, through the election of leaders, to represent them in parliament (Jaensch 1994, p.17). The fundamental basis underpinning the notion of representative democracy lies in the features of choice for voters, and accountability of representatives (Catt 1999 p. 95). This essay forms its argument based on the notion that Australia’s federal system leans towards a consensus democracy; a system that fosters the representation of an array of opinions, acknowledging minorities and focu...

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...or parties in the political arena has improved the representation of Australia’s diversity and fostered the feature of promoting the best interests of society. Urbinati (2006, p. 48) highlights representativity and advocacy as two essential features characterising a representative democracy. Traditionally, members of parliament were primarily middle class white males (Hollander 2003), and over two decades of research have concluded that men in positions of power do not share world views and values of minorities (Thompson 1999). Catt (1999, p. 91) argues that when representatives are expected to reflect the interests of their groups, then the elected body should mirror the population, thus highlighting the importance of mirror representation to representative democracy. It is evident that independents and minor parties have increased the representation of minority