Representative democracy

Representative democracy,electoral democracyorindirect democracyis atype of democracywhere  representatives are elected by the public.Nearly all modernWestern-style democraciesfunction as some type of representative democracy: for example, theUnited Kingdom(aunitaryparliamentaryconstitutional monarchy),Germany(afederalparliamentary republic),France(a unitarysemi-presidentialrepublic), and theUnited States(a federalpresidentialrepublic).This is different fromdirect democracy, where the public votes directly on laws or policies, rather than representatives.
Political partiesoften become prominent in representative democracy ifelectoral systemsrequire or encourage voters to vote for political parties or for candidates associated with political parties (as opposed to voting for individual representatives).Somepolitical theorists(includingRobert Dahl, Gregory Houston, and Ian Liebenberg) have described representative democracy aspolyarchy.
Representative democracy can be organized in different ways including bothparliamentaryandpresidential systemsofgovernment. Elected representatives typically form alegislature(such as a parliament or congress), which may be composed of asingle chamber(unicameral),two chambers(bicameral), ormore than two chambers(multicameral). Where two or more chambers exist, their members are often elected indifferent ways. The power of representatives is usually curtailed by aconstitution(as in aconstitutional democracyor aconstitutional monarchy) or other measures to balance representative power:
Some political theorists, such asEdmund Burke, believe that part of the duty of a representative is not simply to follow the wishes of the electorate but also to use their own judgment in the exercise of their powers, even if their views are not reflective of those of a majority of voters.A representative who chooses to execute the wishes of their constituents acts as a delegate. If the representative chooses to use their best judgment and knowledge in making decisions, even when the constituents do not fully agree with the decision, then the representative acts as a trustee.
TheRoman Republicwas the first known state in theWestern worldto have a representative government, despite taking the form of a direct government in theRoman assemblies. The Roman model of governance would inspire many political thinkers over the centuries,and today's modern representative democracies imitate more the Roman than the Greek model, because it was a state in which supreme power was held by the people and their elected representatives, and which had an elected or nominated leader.Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives; as opposed to direct democracy, a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly.AEuropeanmedievaltradition of selecting representatives from the variousestates(classes, but not as we know them today) to advise/controlmonarchsled to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems.
In Britain,Simon de Montfortis remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments.The first, in 1258, stripped thekingof unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, includedordinary citizens from the towns.Later, in the 17th century, theParliament of Englandimplemented some of the ideas and systems ofliberal democracy, culminating in theGlorious Revolutionand passage of theBill of Rights 1689.Widening of the voting franchise took place through a series ofReform Actsin the 19th and 20th centuries.
TheAmerican Revolutionled to the creation of a newConstitution of the United Statesin 1787, with a national legislature based partly on direct elections of representatives every two years, and thus responsible to the electorate for continuance in office.Senatorswere not directly elected by the people until the adoption of theSeventeenth Amendmentin 1913.  Women, men who owned no property, and Black people, and others not originally given voting rights, in most states eventuallygained the vote through changes in state and federal lawin the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Until it was repealed by theFourteenth Amendmentfollowing theCivil War, theThree-Fifths Compromisegave a disproportionate representation ofslave statesin theHouse of Representativesrelative to the voters in free states.
In 1789,Revolutionary Franceadopted theDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizenand, although short-lived, theNational Conventionwas elected by all males in 1792.Universal male suffragewas re-established in France in the wake of theFrench Revolution of 1848.
Representative democracy came into general favour particularly in post-industrial revolutionnation stateswhere large numbers ofcitizensevinced interest inpolitics, but where technology and population figures remained unsuited to direct democracy.Many historians credit theReform Act 1832with launching modern representative democracy in the United Kingdom.
Globally, a majority of governments in the world are representative democracies, including constitutional monarchies and republics with strong representative branches.
Separate but related, and very large, bodies of research inpolitical philosophyandsocial scienceinvestigate how and how well elected representatives, such as legislators, represent the interests or preferences of one or another constituency. Theempirical researchshows that representative systems tend to be biased towards the representation of more affluent classes to the detriment of the population at large.
In his bookPolitical Parties, written in 1911,Robert Michelsargues that most representative systems deteriorate towards anoligarchyorparticracy. This is known as theiron law of oligarchy.Representative democracies which are stable have been analysed byAdolf Gasserand compared to the unstable representative democracies in his bookGemeindefreiheit als Rettung Europaswhich was published in 1943 and a second edition in 1947.Adolf Gasser stated the following requirements for a representative democracy in order to remain stable, unaffected by the iron law of oligarchy:
A drawback to this type of government is that elected officials are not required to fulfill promises made before their election and are able to promote their own self-interests once elected, providing an incohesive system of governance.Legislators are also under scrutiny as the system of majority-won legislators voting for issues for the large group of people fosters inequality among themarginalized.
Proponents ofdirect democracycriticize representative democracy due to its inherent structure. As the fundamental basis of representative democracy is non inclusive system, in which representatives turn into anelite classthat works behind closed doors, as well as the criticizing the elector system as being driven by acapitalisticandauthoritariansystem.
The system ofstochocracyhas been proposed as an improved system compared to the system of representative democracy, where representatives are elected. Stochocracy aims to at least reduce this degradation by having all representatives appointed bylotteryinstead of by voting. Therefore, this system is also called lottocracy. The system was proposed by the writer Roger de Sizif in 1998 in his bookLa Stochocratie. Choosing officeholders by lot was also the standard practice in ancientAthenian democracyand inancient India. The rationale behind this practice was to avoidlobbyingandelectioneeringby economic oligarchs.
The system ofdeliberative democracyis a mix between a majority-ruled system and a consensus-based system. It allows for representative democracies or direct democracies to coexist with its system of governance, providing an initial advantage.