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of this tri-party entity: Commons, Lords, and the monarch ascent, only one part
is elected. That’s the House of Commons. The House of Lords is made up of
life peers. They’re not elected. They’re appointed. And they’re there for life in
the upper chamber. It is also made up, maybe surprisingly, of hereditary
autocrats. I’m sure if you asked what was your guess about how the UK
system works, I’m sure most people wouldn’t think that they are over 100
members of the legislative body that are there as a matter of aristocratic right.
But that is still the case. The upper chamber also includes the senior bishops of
the Church of England. So, I think, that’s why it’s a bit surprising because
when you look at the detail, it actually is somewhat different from the imaginary
idea of what the democracy, I mean the conception of a democracy.
So, I hope this short description explains why I described the UK system
as being a hybrid democracy. It’s not a pure democracy in the sense that all
the key elements are elected. If we ask the question how successful is the UK
democracy, we would have to consider the criteria by which we would dissect
democracy, which oversee its simplicity in Leena’s work. My own short, I’ve
overseen worker into details, otherwise, that would be a much lengthy at all,
and that’s not my remit.
But my own short list for criteria, I oversee, there could be many more.
One other thing is, of course, the quality of decision making. A democracy is to
be an advantage. If you are non-democracies should be able to make important
decisions well. So, quality of decision making must be one element. I would
have thought.
Another important matter if you are assessing, making assessment of the
UK democracy, what type of democracy does the United Kingdom aspire to be?
Because there are many, as you know, many different types of democracy.
It aspires to be a representative democracy which often it has extensive
political philosophy. Perhaps, it aspires to be a reflective democracy to use the
turn of, or replace the theorist. Certainly it would be improved if it were a
successful reflective democracy.
In the checklist of whether the UK democracy works, as indeed, any
democracy works, what would be vitally important would be levels of integrity
in public life. What level of corruption is present? I think corruption in terms of
a democracy is highly problematic. So, for instance, in Europe, much as I love
Italy. Italy has had in the past, extensive corruption, where organized crime has
almost operated as a parallel state and the mafia have interacted and bribed the ²£ ´£²¢¡¸¡¡Á¥°£°ª²£l²h²£°À¨
government. As I say, I’m a great fan of Italy. But can that be a true
democracy? Does that eat at the heart of democracy? Even if it appears on
the surface to have it. If intimidation, bribery ease its way into the heart of
decision-making.
