Representative democracy

Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy.^[1] Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of representative democracy: for example, the United Kingdom (a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy), Germany (a federal parliamentary republic), France (a unitary semi-presidential republic), and the United States (a federal presidential republic).^[2] Unlike liberal democracy, a representative democracy may have de facto multiparty and free and fair elections, but may not have a fully developed rule of law and additional individual and minority rights beyond the electoral sphere.^[3]

Representative democracy places power in the hands of representatives who are elected by the people. Political parties often become central to this form of democracy if electoral systems require or encourage voters to vote for political parties or for candidates associated with political parties (as opposed to voting for individual representatives).^[4] Some political theorists (including Robert Dahl, Gregory Houston, and Ian Liebenberg) have described representative democracy as polyarchy.^[5]^[6]

Representative democracy can be organized in different ways including both parliamentary and presidential systems of government. Elected representatives typically form a legislature (such as a parliament or congress), which may be composed of a single chamber (unicameral), two chambers (bicameral), or more than two chambers (multicameral). Where two or more chambers exist, their members are often elected in different ways.

^ "Victorian Electronic Democracy, Final Report – Glossary". 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2007.
^ Loeper, Antoine (2016). "Cross-border externalities and cooperation among representative democracies". European Economic Review. 91: 180–208. doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.10.003. hdl:10016/25180.
^ Lührmann, Anna; Tannenberg, Marcus; Lindberg, Staffan I. (19 March 2018). "Regimes of the World (RoW): Opening New Avenues for the Comparative Study of Political Regimes". Politics and Governance. 6 (1): 60–77. doi:10.17645/pag.v6i1.1214. ISSN 2183-2463. Archived from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 16 May 2025.
^ De Vos et al (2014) South African Constitutional Law – In Context: Oxford University Press.
^ Houston, G F (2001) Public Participation in Democratic Governance in South Africa, Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council HSRC Press
^ Dahl, R A (2005) "Is international democracy possible? A critical view", in Sergio Fabbrini (editor): Democracy and Federalism in the European Union and the United States: Exploring post-national governance: 195 to 204 (Chapter 13), Abingdon on the Thames: Routledge.

[1] "Victorian Electronic Democracy, Final Report – Glossary". 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2007.

[:0-2] Loeper, Antoine (2016). "Cross-border externalities and cooperation among representative democracies". European Economic Review. 91: 180–208. doi:10.1016/j.euroecorev.2016.10.003. hdl:10016/25180.

[Lührmann_2018-3] Lührmann, Anna; Tannenberg, Marcus; Lindberg, Staffan I. (19 March 2018). "Regimes of the World (RoW): Opening New Avenues for the Comparative Study of Political Regimes". Politics and Governance. 6 (1): 60–77. doi:10.17645/pag.v6i1.1214. ISSN 2183-2463. Archived from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 16 May 2025.

[4] De Vos et al (2014) South African Constitutional Law – In Context: Oxford University Press.

[5] Houston, G F (2001) Public Participation in Democratic Governance in South Africa, Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council HSRC Press

[6] Dahl, R A (2005) "Is international democracy possible? A critical view", in Sergio Fabbrini (editor): Democracy and Federalism in the European Union and the United States: Exploring post-national governance: 195 to 204 (Chapter 13), Abingdon on the Thames: Routledge.

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