Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
Last May in the referendum I saw for the first time signs that democracy is something that people in this country are prepared to put a price on. The system which for decades has been unquestionable, defended by those who have fought and died for it, is suddenly showing signs of looking like a frivolous waste of time. But what is it that democracy does for us, and why it is worth the vast amounts of time and effort spent on it every year?
Our society was heavily involved in the campaign for the Alternative Vote and that meant we all spent a great deal of time speaking to people about which way they intended to vote and why. Reasons varied, but one reason for voting no that we heard increasingly often was that, ‘although it might be fairer the country just can't afford it’ (most people based this claim on figures released by the no campaign which I think were misleading). But even accepting that the alternative vote system would have cost more I find it shocking that people were willing to put a price on a fair democracy.
The main thing that democracy does is to give us a voice and ensure that public views cannot be ignored. The problem facing the UK is that many no longer feel that we do have a voice. If democracy cannot achieve its main goals then I argue that it is this which is an absurd waste of money that could be better spent on other things.
Disillusionment with politics is not a new thing. It has been commented on for some time, with causes ranging from the expenses scandal to political centralisation, meaning that local people feel they have little control over their local area. And the claim that democracy gives us a voice is not borne out by the Iraq war protests. But I believe this disillusionment is more dangerous than most people realize. From Athens in 404 BC, to Germany in 1934, disillusionment with democracy has ushered in tyrannical replacements, and left political systems pray to extremism.
The basic question is what we intend to do about the future of democracy in this country, which at the moment plainly broken. We can either leave democracy as it is, and most likely voter numbers will continue to fall as disillusionment rises, with all the perils that history has shown that to hold. Or we can spend as much time, effort and money as is required to repair this country's democracy and safeguard our future.
This is an issue that affects us directly: as young people we are statistically less involved in the democratic process than any other area of the electorate. And as ‘the future of this country’ (as they keep telling us), we have to make this choice about whether or not democracy is a system we want to be part of our future, and if so what we intend to do to make it so.
For me there is no choice at all, but perhaps not everyone agrees with me on this. I therefore ask you to give this question some thought, if our generation is going to start the work of unravelling British democracy then we should at least do it consciously and not stumble into it by accident.
The Political Reform Society exists to try and promote democracy in this county in any way we can, if you are interested then please email us at www.electoralreform@yusu.org or find us on facebook
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