3.1.2.1 Democracy and participation Quiz: AQA Politics, Unit 1

The 20 questions

1. What is direct democracy?

   • A system in which citizens take decisions directly, for example through referendums
   • A system in which all decisions are taken by a single elected leader without consultation
   • A system in which judges choose the government and the Commons approves its choice
   • A system in which the monarch selects the MPs who will represent each constituency

2. What is representative democracy?

   • A system in which judges are elected to represent the views of the public in the courts
   • A system in which citizens elect representatives who make decisions on their behalf
   • A system in which representatives are appointed by the monarch for life
   • A system in which every citizen votes on every law, with no elected representatives

3. What is suffrage?

   • The right of an MP to speak in Parliament without interruption by the Speaker
   • The right to stand as a candidate in a constituency at a general election
   • The right to vote in public elections
   • The right of a pressure group to be consulted by ministers on a policy

4. Which reform extended the vote in 1832 and is often seen as a starting point for the modern franchise?

   • The Great Reform Act of 1832
   • The Representation of the People Act of 1918
   • The Parliament Act of 1911
   • The Equal Franchise Act of 1928

5. Which movement campaigned for the People's Charter and universal male suffrage in the 1830s and 1840s?

   • The Suffragettes
   • The Fabian Society
   • The Liberal Unionists
   • The Chartists

6. Which group is most associated with militant campaigning for votes for women in the early twentieth century?

   • The Fabians, who promoted gradual reform through the Labour Party
   • The Suffragettes, led by the Women's Social and Political Union
   • The Chartists, who campaigned for the People's Charter and secret ballots
   • The Liberal Unionists, who opposed the extension of the franchise to women

7. Which statement about the Representation of the People Act 1918 is accurate?

   • It gave every adult in the UK the right to vote, including all women over the age of 18
   • It set the voting age at 16 for all UK elections and abolished the property qualification
   • It extended the vote to some women over 30 and to most men, which was a major expansion of suffrage
   • It abolished the franchise for women entirely and restricted voting to property owners

8. Which argument best supports suffrage as a human right?

   • Voting is a right only for those who own property in the constituency where they live
   • Voting is a basic means of political participation, so denying it is seen as a breach of equal citizenship
   • Voting is a duty owed to the monarch, which can be waived by Parliament at any time
   • Voting is a privilege that the state can grant or withhold to those it considers unsuitable

9. Which change best illustrates the trend towards greater inclusiveness in UK suffrage?

   • Property qualifications for voting were extended to all adults in 1832
   • The voting age was raised to 25 for all elections from 1945
   • Equal voting rights for men and women over 21 were established in 1928
   • Voting was restricted to MPs and peers in every constituency from 1900

10. Which debate about the franchise concerns whether the voting age should be lowered?

    • Whether judges should be allowed to sit as MPs in the Commons chamber
    • Whether the monarch should be allowed to vote in general elections for the Commons
    • Whether 16 and 17 year olds should be allowed to vote in elections
    • Whether peers should be allowed to stand for election to the House of Commons

11. Which pattern of participation is most often identified as a concern in democracies?

    • Increasing turnout and rising membership of parties in every age group
    • Declining turnout and reduced membership of political parties
    • Rising numbers of peers appointed to the Lords without any public scrutiny
    • Greater use of referendums in the UK than of general elections

12. What is partisan dealignment?

    • The process by which local councils take control of national party policy
    • The weakening of long-term links between voters
    • The creation of a new party by a split from the House of Lords
    • The formal abolition of all political parties by a vote of the Commons

13. Which evaluation best supports the view that suffrage has broadened over time?

    • Successive reforms extended the vote to more groups, although debates remain about who is included
    • Suffrage has been abolished in most parts of the UK, leaving only a small number of voters
    • Suffrage has narrowed since 1832, as more groups have been excluded from voting
    • Suffrage has remained the same since 1832, because the franchise has never been reformed

14. Which argument best supports the view that participation is about more than voting?

    • Participation consists only of voting at elections, and all other activity is irrelevant
    • Participation consists only of paying taxes to the state, and voting is unrelated to it
    • Participation includes campaigning, joining groups and contacting representatives, not just casting a ballot
    • Participation is limited to membership of the House of Lords and nothing else

15. Which statement about the debates on the franchise in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is most accurate?

    • Debates centred only on the voting age for peers, which was the sole issue of the period
    • Debates focused only on the number of seats in the House of Lords and nothing else
    • Debates centred on gender and class, with the Chartists, Suffragists
    • Debates concerned the powers of the monarch and not the composition of the electorate

16. Which evaluation best assesses the claim that direct democracy strengthens citizens' role in the UK?

    • It removes all citizen involvement because decisions are always taken by the monarch in private
    • It increases citizen involvement on particular issues, but it can also oversimplify complex questions and bypass Parliament
    • It makes representative democracy unnecessary because every citizen can now make every law directly
    • It has no effect on citizens because referendums are never held on any issue in the UK

17. Which claim about the relationship between suffrage and human rights is most accurate?

    • Suffrage is a right granted to the monarch alone, who may extend it to subjects at will
    • Suffrage is a right that applies only to those who own land in the constituency they live in
    • Suffrage is often framed as a human right, linking the franchise to equality
    • Suffrage is not connected to human rights, because voting is a matter only for the courts

18. Which phrase best describes partisan dealignment?

    • Voters being prevented from belonging to any party by a law passed in the Commons
    • Voters becoming more loyal to one party with each election, creating a fixed majority
    • Voters choosing a single party only at local elections, and never at national elections
    • Voters becoming less loyal to one party over time

19. Which movement is associated with campaigns for women's suffrage in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

    • The Chartists, who campaigned for the People's Charter in the 1830s and 1840s
    • The Liberal Unionists, who opposed the extension of the franchise to women
    • The suffragists, who campaigned by constitutional methods, and the suffragettes, who used militant tactics
    • The Fabians, who promoted gradual social reform through the Labour Party

20. Which group was excluded from the vote until the 1918 reforms, in spite of the wider franchise after 1832?

    • Men over the age of 21 who lived in England and Wales
    • Men who owned property in the constituency where they lived
    • Men from Scotland who were registered in the burgh councils
    • Most women, who were given only limited voting rights

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