Comparative US/UK Democracy and Participation
Comparing democracy and participation in the USA and the UK means comparing two electoral landscapes that look similar at their core, both use single-member plurality for their principal national elections, but diverge sharply once campaign finance and voter registration are considered.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Compare the two systems theme by theme, e.g. one paragraph on electoral systems used, one on campaign finance regulation, one on voter registration and turnout, rather than describing the USA fully and then the UK.
- Learn the electoral system similarity precisely: both countries rely heavily on single-member plurality (first-past-the-post) for their principal national elections, but note the UK's greater variety, since it also uses proportional or mixed systems for some devolved and other institutions, unlike the USA's near-uniform reliance on plurality voting nationally.
- Learn the campaign finance contrast: the UK caps national campaign spending under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000), while US campaign finance is comparatively deregulated, especially following Citizens United v FEC (2010), which allowed unlimited independent spending by corporations and unions.
- Learn the registration and turnout contrast: UK voter registration is more centrally organised, while the USA's registration system is state-run, decentralised and largely opt-in, a difference often cited, alongside voter ID requirements in some states, in explaining comparatively lower US turnout.
- For a question on which country has the more participatory democracy, weigh the UK's tighter spending limits and simpler national registration system (arguably reducing the influence of money and administrative barriers) against the USA's greater variety of direct democratic and primary-election mechanisms that give ordinary voters more direct influence over candidate selection than most UK party members have.
- In every comparative paragraph, name the theory, structural, rational or cultural, being applied; for example, the campaign finance gap is best explained structurally, since it follows directly from the US Supreme Court's constitutional free-speech interpretation in Citizens United, which has no equivalent constraint on the UK's statutory spending caps.
Worked example
Using the rational approach, explain why campaign spending has grown far larger in US elections than in UK elections.
- State the rational approach first: it explains political behaviour and outcomes as the product of actors, here political donors, campaigns and parties, pursuing their own interests within the rules and incentives each system provides.
- Apply it to the USA: following Citizens United v FEC (2010), corporations, unions and wealthy individuals can spend unlimited amounts independently to support a campaign, so it is rational for well-resourced interests to spend heavily where the rules place no ceiling on the potential electoral return from that spending.
- Apply it to the UK: the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (2000) caps national campaign spending, so it is rational for parties and donors to spend up to, but not attempt to exceed, that legal ceiling, since spending beyond it would be against the law rather than merely a matter of diminishing returns.
- Draw the direct comparison: in both countries, campaigns and donors are behaving rationally by spending as much as the rules allow, but the different legal ceilings, effectively unlimited in the USA after Citizens United, capped in the UK under PPERA, produce the very different scale of spending observed.
- Conclude by naming the theory again and distinguishing it from a structural explanation: while the existence of the spending cap itself is a structural fact about each system, the actual scale of spending observed is the rational response of self-interested actors to the incentive structure each set of rules creates.
Practice questions
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Q1What electoral system do both the USA (for most elections) and the UK (for general elections) rely on most heavily?Show answer
Answer: Single-member plurality (first-past-the-post).
Q2Name one UK institution that is elected using a proportional or mixed electoral system rather than first-past-the-post.Show answer
Answer: For example, a devolved assembly such as the Scottish Parliament or the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), or historically the London Assembly.
Q3What UK law caps national campaign spending, and in what year was it passed?Show answer
Answer: The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (PPERA), 2000.
Q4What did Citizens United v FEC (2010) allow in US campaign finance?Show answer
Answer: Unlimited independent political spending by corporations and unions.
Q5Is UK voter registration generally more or less centrally organised than voter registration in the USA?Show answer
Answer: More centrally organised; US voter registration is state-run, decentralised, and largely opt-in.
Q6Give one factor, other than registration rules, that has been linked to comparatively lower turnout in some US elections.Show answer
Answer: Voter ID requirements in some states, or the sheer frequency of US elections (including primaries) contributing to voter fatigue.
Q7What comparative theory would best explain the campaign finance gap as a direct result of each country's legal spending rules?Show answer
Answer: The structural (institutional) approach.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Politics exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Using the rational approach, explain why campaign spending has grown far larger in US elections than in UK elections.
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'Voters have more meaningful influence over political outcomes in the USA than in the UK.' Evaluate this view, applying the comparative theories in your answer.
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Free printable worksheet
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