Thank you meganrobyn for the feedback!!! i tried to incorporate it by using the examples more and trying to stress difference, i'm not sure i got it right though. if anyone has time to look at this and give any constructive crit. i'd be super greatful!!!
Distinguish between representative and responsible government. (3 marks)
Representative government refers to an elected government that characterizes the views of the majority of people.Responsible government in contrast, refers to a government which is accountable to the parliament, and therefore is answerable to the people, for its actions. Where representative government ensures that current legislation created by Parliament is in accord to community views and values, responsible government enshrines the idea of enforceability - if Parliament creates legislation which is not reflective of the people's needs, they are likely to be voted out of office and therefore be held accountable for their actions. Representative government can thus be seen in the very system of voting, as the government is made to consist of elected members of parliament who are chosen by the people, whereas responsible government is clear in the idea of ministerial accountability, as ministers are responsible for their portfolios and can be called on in Parliament to explain their actions.
((Thus while both the principles of representative and responsible government are intrinsically interwoven within the nature and structure of Australia's democratic system, there are innate differences between the two ideals.))
do i need this last sentence??? will i lose marks if i don't have it??? was this better??
I think that's much better
And, no, you don't need that last sentence! It doesn't provide any more information, and you don't need 'senses of closure' in Legal Studies.
I especially like the third sentence; after the dash, in particular, you explicitly draw the two together, which is what is usually lacking from distinguish/compare/etc questions. Doing that shows you actually understand how the two work and can analyse points of comparison and difference, and that you haven't just learnt two definitions and put 'however' in the middle
Other points you may wish to consider include the fact that responsible government is concentrated mainly on the executive arm, as they need to be held accountable between elections (and even elections are no better than *indirect* mechanisms on the executive, given it's the *legislature* that is being elected first and foremost), whereas representative government is the election of the parliament and is therefore concentrated mainly on the legislative arm. Also, that representative government is more about putting representatives into power, whereas responsible government is about scrutinising them once they're there and possibly removing them from power.
Similarities (not required in this question) would then be things such as elections - putting reps in for representative government and holding government and law-makers accountable in responsible government; both provide structural protection of rights; and others I'm too lazy to think of right now!
You can always get yourself warmed up with the definitions when you're doing a compare/distinguish/etc, but that's not the part that answers the task word, because it doesn't show understanding. So your goal is really to use the task word to show you understand how things work.