Representative democracy
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Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the people's representatives. The representatives are charged with the responsibility of acting in the people's interest, but not as their proxy representatives—i.e., not necessarily always according to their wishes, but with enough authority to exercise swift and resolute initiative in the face of changing circumstances. It is often contrasted with direct democracy, where representatives are absent or are limited in power as proxy representatives.
The representatives are chosen by the majority of the voters (as opposed to the majority of the population/eligible voters) in free, secret-ballot, multi-party elections. While existing representative democracies hold such elections to choose representatives, in theory other methods, such as sortition (more closely aligned with direct democracy), could be used instead. Also, representatives sometimes hold the power to select other representatives, presidents, or other officers of government (indirect representation). For example, the election of the President of the United States involves the Electoral College, and in many parliamentary systems the head of government is usually the leader of the party or coalition in the majority, and is not specifically designated by the electorate.
The power of representatives in a representative democracy is usually curtailed by a constitution (as in a constitutional republic or a constitutional monarchy) or other measures to balance representative power:
- An independent judiciary, which may have the power to declare legislative acts unconstitutional (e.g. the Supreme Court)
- It may also provide for some deliberative democracy (e.g., Royal Commissions) or
- direct democracy measures (e.g., initiative, referendum, recall elections). 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.
A representative democracy that also protects liberties is called a liberal democracy. One that does not is an illiberal democracy. There is no necessity that individual liberties are respected in a representative democracy. For example, "the United States relies on representative democracy, but [its] system of government is much more complex than that. [It is] not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law."[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Scheb, John M. An Introduction to the American Legal System. Thomson Delmar Learning 2001. p. 6
