Democratic Audit UK Home Our work The 2012 Audit Block 1: Citizenship, Law and Rights 1.

1 Nationhood and citizenship 1.2 The rule of law and access to justice 1.3 Civil and political rights 1.4 Social and economic rights Block 2: Representative and Accountable Government 2.1 Free and fair elections 2.2 the democratic role of political parties 2.3 Effective and responsive government 2.4 the democratic effectiveness of parliament 2.6. Integrity in public life 2.5. Civilian control of the military and police Block 3 Civil society and popular participation 3.1 the media in a democratic society 3.2 Political participation 3.3 Decentralisation Block 4 Democracy beyond the state 4.1 External influences on the country s democracy 4.2 the Country s democratic impact abroad Democratic Audit shorts Core expertise DA reports and publications Gender and Democracy Democracy Online Future of the Union Other work Key indicators of UK democracy Corporate power and democracy Electoral reform Parliament Party funding Audits worldwide Quangos Patronage and quango appointments Quangos and quangocrats Who governs Merseyside? Constitution UK: Crowdsourcing the UK s constitution 8th October LSE event Themes Improving voting and elections Informing and engaging citizens Involving young people in democracy Modernising parliamentary democracy Achieving accountable government Building sub-national government Extending human and civil rights About What we do Who we are DA staff DA Trustees Our Contributors Editorial Information Our blog family How to cite our articles Comments policy

Contact Contact Democratic Audit Contribute to Democratic Audit Media 2013 media 2012 media 2011 media 2010 media Resources Find my representatives Local government in the United Kingdom Freedom of information Guide to electoral systems Democratic network Political and Constitutional Reform Committee Public Policy Group (PPG) Blogs Ballots and Bullets The Constitution Unit at UCL Involve OpenDemocracy Whitehall Watch Lewis Baston The Scottish Question: The notion that constitutional politics can be separated from ordinary politics is unconvincing By Democratic Audit 13/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? The Scottish Question: The notion that constitutional politics can be separated from ordinary politics is unconvincing With the Scottish referendum less than one year away, James Mitchell discusses t hree broad types of issues in the debate: those that are core, such as the econo my, defence and welfare; those that are insulated, for example the lively debate on public service reform that continues outside of the Scottish referendum cont ext; and issues that are being [ ] Share Posted in: Building sub-national government, Informing and engaging citizens Can you buy a Police Commissioner? Spending at the 2012 Police and Crime Commis sioner elections suggests it depends on the party By Democratic Audit 12/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? Can you buy a Police Commissioner? Spending at the 2012 Police and Crime Commiss ioner elections suggests it depends on the party The Police and Crime Commissioner elections were widely considered to be disastr ous, with exceptionally low voter turnout and a lack of public interest in, or u nderstanding of, their roles. Chris Prosser of St Catherine s College, Oxford, loo ks at the newly released Electoral Commission figures for spending in the electi on, and lifts the lid on what [ ] Share Posted in: Improving voting and elections, Informing and engaging citizens Men only? The parliamentary Liberal Democrats and gender representation By Democratic Audit 11/10/2013 0 Comments

Read More ? Men only? The parliamentary Liberal Democrats and gender representation The Liberal Democrats have both the lowest percentage and number of women MPs am ong the main parties. With those seats vulnerable due to their slim majorities, Elizabeth Evans questions whether a parliamentary party dominated by white men t hat claims to stand for equality can claim credibility. Share Posted in: Informing and engaging citizens Interview: Historian Linda Colley on Englishness By Democratic Audit 10/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? Interview: Historian Linda Colley on Englishness In an interview with IPPR s Guy Lodge, historian Linda Colley rejects the idea tha t British disintegration is inevitable but says a new constitutional settlement is needed to bind the nations and people of the United Kingdom together, and to help clarify its relationship with Europe. The English, she argues, would benefi t from having a parliament [ ] Share Posted in: Building sub-national government Britain s poor view of politicians is more to do with their inability to answer a straight question than perceived corruption By Democratic Audit 09/10/2013 1 Comments Read More ? Britain s poor view of politicians is more to do with their inability to answer a straight question than perceived corruption British politicians have an appallingly poor reputation with the British public, with many regarding them as slippery, corrupt, and concerned chiefly with their own financial well-being. But, as Professor Sarah Birch and Dr Nicholas Allen a rgue, Britons are actually less concerned than German or French citizens with ou tright bribery, and more irritated by politicians refusal [ ] Share Posted in: Informing and engaging citizens The legal regulation of Muslim dress is controversial in the UK, but education could help eradicate prejudice By Democratic Audit 08/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? The legal regulation of Muslim dress is controversial in the UK, but education c ould help eradicate prejudice Segments of British society continue to feel uneasy about the idea of Muslim rel igious dress, particularly when it concerns the covering of women s faces. The rec ent debate triggered by a Birmingham court s introduction and then reversion of a ban on defendants wearing the veil presents a meaningful opportunity for non-Mus lims to learn about the significance of religious dress [ ] Share Posted in: Extending human and civic rights Crowdsourcing the UK s constitution: why the status quo is not an option

By Democratic Audit 07/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? Crowdsourcing the UK s constitution: why the status quo is not an option LSE s Institute of Public Affairs and Department of Law, and Democratic Audit have recently teamed up for a project which will crowdsource a UK written constituti on. In advance of project launch event, Jack Bailey of the LSE Institute of Publ ic Affairs and Sean Kippin of Democratic Audit explain why the current state of affairs is untenable, and how [ ] Share Posted in: Crowdsourcing the Constitution, Informing and engaging citizens The Scottish push towards local democracy carries potential unintended costs By Democratic Audit 07/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? The Scottish push towards local democracy carries potential unintended costs The prospect of independence for Scotland is being treated by campaigners as an opportunity to instigate meaningful political and constitutional reform, includi ng a major devolution of powers to local and municipal Government. But, argues P rofessor Paul Cairney, while it isn t clear what the respective roles of the diffe rent tiers of Government will be, there are [ ] Share Posted in: Building sub-national government Feral politics: searching for meaning in the 21st century By Democratic Audit 06/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? Feral politics: searching for meaning in the 21st century At the end of the party conference season, Matthew Flinders reflects on a ing display of the death of politics , arguing that the parties failed to new ideas and offer fresh choices. He finds parallels in George Monbiot s ork on responding to ecological decline, and wonders whether re-wilding ould save the democratic [ ] depress promote recent w politics c

Share Posted in: Informing and engaging citizens, Involving young people in democracy, Modernising parliamentary democracy Durham is the pits (for local disproportionality) By Democratic Audit 05/10/2013 0 Comments Read More ? Durham is the pits (for local disproportionality) Disproportionality is the degree of mismatch between parties shares of votes and their shares of seats, with measures of disproportionality usually calculated fo r national elections. The share of votes is simply the share of all votes cast n ationwide, and the share of seats is simply the share of all seats contested. Dr . Chris Hanretty of the [ ] Share Posted in: Improving voting and elections

Next Page DA ON SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter RSS Feed Facebook Pinterest THE 2012 DEMOCRATIC AUDIT The 2012 Audit Our latest (2012) Audit of democracy in the UK has now been publi shed and is available here ... Read More CROWDSOURCING THE UK S CONSTITUTION Constitution UK: Crowdsourcing the UK s constitution Constitution UK is a trailbla zing project that invites members of the public to participate in, offer advice ... Read More DA ON TWITTER GENDER AND DEMOCRACY Gender and Democracy Democratic Audit features a series of posts considering the relationship between gender and democracy ... Read More DA ON FACEBOOK FUTURE OF THE UNION Future of the Union Democratic Audit features a series of posts exploring the UK s future prospects as a political union ... Read More RECENT POSTS The Scottish Question: The notion that constitutional politics can be separated from ordinary politics is unconvincing Can you buy a Police Commissioner? Spending at the 2012 Police and Crime Commiss ioner elections suggests it depends on the party Men only? The parliamentary Liberal Democrats and gender representation Interview: Historian Linda Colley on Englishness Britain s poor view of politicians is more to do with their inability to answer a straight question than perceived corruption The legal regulation of Muslim dress is controversial in the UK, but education c ould help eradicate prejudice Crowdsourcing the UK s constitution: why the status quo is not an option The Scottish push towards local democracy carries potential unintended costs DEMOCRACY ONLINE Democracy Online Democratic Audit features a series of posts exploring how the i nternet is transforming democracy ... Read More This week's most popular posts Northern Ireland Assembly elections show internal party cultures, not the electo ral system, prevent equal opportunities for women in politics (601 Views) Welsh incremental devolution: history repeats itself, first as tragedy then as t ax? (461 Views) Online political discussions tend to be less civil when the participants are ano nymous (419 Views) Votes at 16: democracy experts respond to Ed Miliband s proposal (406 Views) Britain s poor view of politicians is more to do with their inability to answer a straight question than perceived corruption (320 Views) How biased is the BBC? (303 Views) Conservative members have less influence on policy than those in the other major parties (289 Views) The Estonian experience shows that while online voting is faster and cheaper, it

hasn t increased turn-out (271 Views) The Government s proposal for an English only stage in the House of Commons could cr eate problems (268 Views) MPs with slim majorities and frontbenchers are the most prolific parliamentary t weeters (254 Views) CATEGORIES Achieving accountable government Book reviews Building sub-national government Crowdsourcing the Constitution Democratic Audit shorts Extending human and civic rights Improving voting and elections Informing and engaging citizens Involving young people in democracy Modernising parliamentary democracy BLOGROLL 38 Degress Ballots and Bullets (Nottingham University) Constitution UK:Crowdsourcing the UK's constitution Future of the UK and Scotland Involve Local Government Chronicle Lords of the Blog LSE British Politics and Policy Blog LSE Europp Blog LSE Impact of Social Sciences Blog LSE Review of Books Nick Pearce's Blog @ IPPR Open Knowledge Foundation Our Democratic Heritage OurKingdom Political Studies Association Politics in Spires politics upside down (Southampton University) PSA Women and Politics The Constitution Society The Constitution Unit at UCL The Conversation The Democratic Society The House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee The New Statesman (Staggers) Transparency International UK Human Rights Blog UK Polling Report Whitehall Watch RECENT COMMENTS James Graham on Britain s poor view of politicians is more to do with their inabil ity to answer a straight question than perceived corruption Keith Robinson on There is no evidence of a trend towards inexperience among Bri tish party leaders nonsequiturcouk on Votes at 16: what the UK can learn from Austria, Norway and t he Crown dependencies PaulBarasi on Votes at 16: democracy experts respond to Ed Miliband s proposal CREATIVE COMMONS Creative-Commons" This work by Democratic Audit is licensed under a Creative Com

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