Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of
democracy founded on the exercise of
popular sovereignty by the people's elected representatives. It is a theory of
civics in which voters choose (in free, secret,
multi-party elections) representatives to act in their interests, but
not as their
proxies—i.e., not necessarily according to their voters' wishes, but with enough
authority to exercise
initiative in the face of changing circumstances.
As a representative democracy involves significant powers given to the legislators, there are usually
constitutional or other measures to balance representative power:
*An independent
judiciary, which may have the power to declare legislative acts unconstitutional.
*A representative democracy may provide for
recall of elected representatives that voters become dissatisfied with.
*It may also provide for some
deliberative democracy (e.g.,
Royal Commissions) or
*
direct democracy (e.g.,
referendum) measures. However, these are not always binding and usually require some legislative action - legal power usually remains firmly with representatives.
*In some cases, a
bicameral legislature may have an "upper house" that is not directly elected, such as the
Canadian Senate, which was in turn modelled on the UK
House of Lords.
While existing representative democracies hold elections to choose the representatives, in theory other methods, such as
sortition, could be used.
One critique of representative democracy is that it centralizes power into the hands of the wealthy, thereby increasing the likelihood of policies which benefit the wealthy and not the poor. This can be called
corruption in and
abuse of power by the government. In the United States, the chief means to reduce this risk is the form of government called a
constitutional democracy (or more accurately, a
republic with
constitutionally ordained democratic institutions), wherein a
separation of powers is used to constitutionally establish a system of
checks and balances. Such checks and balances are a critical element of a
Jeffersonian democracy. Other democracies among advanced industrial nations rely on the strength of political participation, particularly through multi-party systems, and do not generally try to institute constitutionally structured checks and balances.
Representative democracy is often contrasted to
participative democracy.
*
Republican democracy*
Direct democracy*
Electoral Reform Society
