Had the Increased Influence of Minor Parties and Independents Enhanced Essay

Had the Increased Influence of Minor Parties and Independents Enhanced Democracy in Australia - Essay Example It is for this reason that democracy is said to be governance for the people (Stock, 2006). These positive remarks about democracy do not mean however that the successes associated with democracy come on a silver platter. Democratic successes are actually worked and it only takes a country with very good structures and systems to have a perfect democratic practice that is free from hitches and predicaments. A democratic practicing nation, Australia has held on to the very fundamental provisions of democratic governance for a very long time. Though globally acclaimed as a democratic giant, the country continues to make strives in getting her democratic practice become even better. It is for this reason that the democratic practice of Australia continues to be under scrutiny and research. All these happen in a bid to establish the core place of Australia’s democratic practice in global politics. 1.2 Research Question The successful completion of this essay would be judged by whe ther or not the writer has been able to address and sufficiently answered the question: â€Å"Has the increased influence of minor parties and independents enhanced democracy in Australia?† 1.3 Rationale for the Study As pointed out earlier, Australia as a country is never resting on her achievement as a recognized practitioner of fair and transparent democracy. Rather, there continues to be ways of searching for knowledge and ideas to make the democratic practice of the country even better (Warhurst, 2007). The rationale of this essay is firmly rooted in this philosophy to examine the role of minor political parties and independents in Australia and ways of ensuring that the minor political parities become even more proactive and useful to the democratic dispensation of the country. 1.4 Central Argument One of the core philosophies of the Australian democratic practice that could be pointed out as a secret to her democracy is the involvement of minor political parties in the country’s democratic dispensations. The writer therefore takes the position that the increased influence of minor political parties and independence in Australia’s political system has enhanced democracy in Australia. 2.0 REVIEW OF INFLUENCE OF MINOR PARTIES TO AUSTRALIA’S DEMOCRACY The writer shall use the following sections to break his persuasion into three major themes of the role of minor political parties in enhancing the democratic practice of Australia. These themes were first used by Gauja (2010). The themes are electoral influence, organisational influence and parliamentary influence. Each theme shall have two major factors or roles. 2.1 Electoral 2.1.1 Consolidates the basic provisions of the constitution The first electoral role that the minor political parties play in Australia’s political democratic system is that they help in consolidating the basic provisions of the country’s constitution. This is because in Australian constitution , there is a special provision for proportional representation (Vromen and Gelber, 2005). Proportional representation method of voting is a special dispensation that demands that minor political parties and independents should attain a minimum of one quota in all electoral state. Such representation is further manifest in the parliamentary system as the representatives from the minor political parties are represented in a parliamentary chamber. This is a major justification that in the absence of minor poli