HackerTube.dev

Is the EU Democratic? Does Your Vote Matter?

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell · 5.6M views · 2019-05-19 · 7:55

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Kurzgesagt explains how the European Union is governed, how its officials are elected or appointed, and whether a citizen's vote actually matters.

On Hacker News

HN commenters point to it as a quick factual primer on EU institutions when threads get into EU politics and policy.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2019–2022

Topics

Search by tags

What people said

BadOakOx · 2022-06 · Recommendation

> > Ursula von der Leyen was not elected by EU citizens > But was she not elected by EU members of parliment, who were elected by EU citizens? This is a common argument when criticizing the EU, but in the end everybody is elected by the people of EU (directly or indirectly). Here is a quick video explaining how it works: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
dijit · 2022-05 · Recommendation

Thanks for taking the time to think about it. > Democracy itself always gives rights to the majority against the will of the minority. this is true and it has a name I believe; the "Tyranny of the Majority", I think. > The tyranny of the majority (or tyranny of the masses) is an inherent weakness to majority rule in which the majority of an electorate pursues exclusively its own objectives at the expense of those of the minority factions. Unfortunately, as you mentioned, being _more democratic_ ultimately lends itself to being this way. However one neat trick the EU has (and I promise I'm not trying to spin this as pro-EU, as it's only in one place): is that the direct votes are split proportionally. This means that lesser represented groups get a voice in the EU parliament. For the UK with their "First past the post" system, and winner take all government; where a party like UKIP can get 12.6% of all votes and win 0 representation in parliament.... well, lets say it's a stark contrast. explained very nicely; here: [LINK] The EU voting system (the way in which we elect MEPs to parliament) is detailed in this video by the BBC: [LINK] ; as you'll see it's much more representative. I know of other videos that speak pragmatically about the EU, its problems and if it's worth it (though with a slight pro-EU stance): [VIDEO] I also found this video that asks the question if the EU is democratic, which I think makes good points and you can draw different conclusions from it: [LINK] I

Read the original HN comment ↗
tasubotadas · 2019-07 · Recommendation

All EU officials are elected directly or elected/assigned by the people that were elected. This will help you to get the facts straight: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources