Representative democracy is a variety of democracy founded on the principle of elected people representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy. For example, three countries which use representative democracy are the United States Of America (a presidential republic), the United Kingdom (a constitutional monarchy) and Poland (a parliamentary republic).
It is an element of both the parliamentary system and presidential system of government and is typically used in a lower chamber such as the House of Commons (UK) or Bundestag (Germany), and is generally curtailed by constitutional constraints such as an upper chamber. It has been described by some political theorists as Polyarchy.
Read more about Representative Democracy: Powers of Representatives, Representative Democracy and Republicanism, History, Criticisms
Famous quotes containing the word democracy:
“When people generally are aware of a problem, it can be said to have entered the public consciousness. When people get on their hind legs and holler, the problem has not only entered the public consciousness—it has also become a part of the public conscience. At that point, things in our democracy begin to hum.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)