POL1AUP: Democracy and Dictatorship Essay - Factors and Backsliding

This essay addresses two political science questions regarding democracy and dictatorship, fulfilling the requirements of the POL1AUP assignment. The first question analyzes the democratic system of the United Kingdom, highlighting its structure and the role of its representatives. It then delves into the factors contributing to democratic backsliding, including populism, economic inequality, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the concentration of political power. The essay argues that these factors, along with the legislature's potential weakness and cultural issues, can undermine democratic performance and restrict future development. It emphasizes the importance of effective government regulations to overcome challenges and build a strong democratic country, concluding that the UK should maintain a strong democracy where citizens adhere to regulations. The essay references several academic sources to support its arguments.

Two politics questions
regarding democracy

Table of Contents
ESSAY ............................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

ESSAY
QUESTION:1
This essay is based on the democracies and Dictatorships of the countries. . It also covers
the various factors which causes democratic backsliding
The United Kingdom is a democratic country . A democracy country means a country
where people are free to choose their government. In UK there are many people that take
decisions and therefore representative are elected in order to make the decision for the country.
The representative elected includes Members of Parliament , members of Scottish parliament and
other local councillors. The UK parliament has two heads i.e. House of commons and House of
lords. Furthermore, house of commons is composed of 650 MPs and on the other hand house of
lord have 810 lords. But on the hand UK cannot be called as full democratic country but referred
to as Unitary state with the devolution which id regulated within the framework of the
parliamentary democracy that is covered under the constitutional monarchy.
QUESTION 2
It can be said that due to backsliding of the democracy it means that the democracy of the
country is moving backwards in the terms of democratic performance which can be considered
as a sign of rising the principle of authoritarianism which means that one person has control over
the affairs of the country. Various factors that results into backsliding of the country is Populism
can be a threat and can cause backsliding of the democracy and it emphasizes on the protecting
the traditional lifestyle against the threats form the outsiders(Gora, and de Wilde, 2022). It can
be said that populism does not have same impact in every stage of the democratization process .
On the other hand the another factor for backsliding of the democracy is the economic inequality
and social discontent , Economic inequality is one of the major factor that can result into this
situation of democracy. It has been observed that this situation is prevailing in many countries
which eventually results into more authoritarian. But on the other hand there can be various other
elements which can result into this situation of the country. The other and most common factors
in the present time is the huge impact of covid-19 . This situation has not only affected one
country but almost every country has to suffer the implications of the pandemic and hampered
the growth of the economy (Holesch, and Kyriazi, 2022).Due to this various national
government got delayed and on the other hand all the democratic elections got cancelled and

postponed which has resulted into gaps in the actions of democracy. In the times of crisis no
countries have violated any regulation of the law during the time of covid. Although before the
emergence of covid various countries was experiencing rise in the autocrats but with this crisis it
had immense impact and resulting into backsliding democracy.
The other major causes for backsliding of the democracy are great political power which has
also equally contributed towards democratic backsliding and also resulted into increase in
authoritarianism i.e. these great powers have resulted into waves of democracy hat was driven by
subjection. These existing factors had huge impact on the democracy and resulting into affecting
its performance. IN every country culture is one of the biggest factor that can be an issue for
various changes that takes place within the economy(Waldner, and Lust, 2018). The other
major factor for the backsliding democracy is the legislature and is also considered as the
collapse in the separation of the powers. It can be said that legislature gradually surrender the
powers to the executives and results into permitting the control of other institution through the
appointment of loyalists. It can be said that these factors not only impact the economic growth of
the country but also led to moving backwards and restricts it from developing and preparing it
for the future. It is necessary to have effective rules and regulation by the government so that it
can overcome all the challenges which can led to backsliding of the democracies. The factors
identified have major impact on the democracy and its performance and can major issue which
restricts its growth and development(Bellamy, Kröger, and Lorimer, 2022). Thus, with the
emergence of crisis , the democracy has been impacted to a great extent and it is the
responsibility for the government to taken various measures in order to overcome the impact and
build strong democratic country.
From the above essay it can be concluded that the country should have strong democracy
and every citizen is bound to follow those regulations. The essay summarizes the democratic
system of United Kingdom and various factors that can result into backsliding of the democracy
of the country.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bellamy, R., Kröger, S. and Lorimer, M., 2022. Party views on democratic backsliding and
differentiated integration. East European Politics and Societies, p.08883254221096168.
Gora, A. and de Wilde, P., 2022. The essence of democratic backsliding in the European Union:
deliberation and rule of law. Journal of European Public Policy.29(3). pp.342-362.
Holesch, A. and Kyriazi, A., 2022. Democratic backsliding in the European Union: the role of
the Hungarian-Polish coalition. East European Politics. 38(1). pp.1-20.
Waldner, D. and Lust, E., 2018. Unwelcome change: Coming to terms with democratic
backsliding. Annual Review of Political Science.21. pp.93-113.