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Similarities of representative democracy and direct
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A representative democracy can be defined as a form of government where the people would elect their leaders who would then have to rule and make laws. This allows laws to be made intelligently by specialists. While the people still get a say in who makes those laws, they have no power to influence them directly. The power is therefore split. The people retain some power while the rest is held among the elected representatives. This form of governance is held by the United Kingdom where representatives such as the Members of Parliament meet in the House of Commons to to discuss and pass laws. A representative democracy tends to fall in the middle of the political spectrum, thus being referred to as a ‘compromise’. But a compromise between what?
A comparison to this is direct democracy. This is a form of democracy where political power is exercised by the citizens whose propose and vote directly on each law, without a representative acting on their behalf. The people have the power, however the minority often gets ignored in such democracies.
The most stark contrast to both of these forms of democracy would be a dictatorship such as communism. This is where one person or a small group of people govern and make all the decisions without any input from the people or anyone else and is a totalitarian political system. Any laws passed are absolute rules that are uninfluenced by public opinion.
These three systems have slightly different approaches which, when examined, will help assess whether representative democracy is a muddled compromise.
In a direct democracy, power is returned to the people in an attempt to maximise individual autonomy while retaining interest in politics. However, this does not necessarily mean that every...
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... a dictatorship entails. Any aspect of being muddled in a representative democracy can be mitigated by the motivation of key political players to reach a logical conclusion through way of compromise.
Works Cited
A.D. Lindsay, The Essentials of Democracy, 1930
E Latham, The Group Basis of Politics, 1965
Anthony M. Birch, The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy, 1993
Jonathan Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2006
E.W. Martin, The Tyranny of the Majority, 1961
J.R. Lucas, Democracy and Participation, 1976
AJP Taylor, The Course of German History, 2001 https://sites.google.com/site/billfitzgibbonsproject/home http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com http://www.economist.com/node/17849447 http://www.lawteacher.net/administrative-law/essays/liberal-democracies-tyranny-of-the-majority-administrative-law-essay.php
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Direct Democracy vs Representative Democracy The term Democracy is derived from two Greek words, demos, meaning people, and kratos, meaning rule. These two words form the word democracy which means rule by the people. Aristotle, and other ancient Greek political philosophers, used the phrase, `the governors are to be the governed', or as we have come to know it, `rule and be ruled in turn'. The two major types of democracy are Representative Democracy and Direct
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Famous American poet James Russell Lowell once said, “Democracy gives every man the right to be his own oppressor” (“Quotations” 2011). And it should be just that. James Russell Lowell successfully defined democracy when it is in its truest form; a citizen’s beliefs should be equally represented and considered for. The representative democracy instated in the United States presents the need for three branches in the government; they include the executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The Congress embodies the lawmaking branch of the government, having “all legislative powers” as it is stated in Article I of the Constitution. To prevent one state from having too much power over other states, the Congress was separated into the House of Representatives and the Senate to have checks and balances over each other. Although they have several different functions in society, both legislative bodies play a very important role in representing both the citizens’ and government’s choices.
More specific arguments originate from the participatory theory of democracy and the critique of a lack of responsiveness and legitimacy of representative (party) democracy. The two sets of democratic institutions are distinguished by basic features of direct participation: (1) direct democracy focuses on specific issues, in contrast to voting on candidates and general programs for long terms of office, and (2) citizens themselves act as decision makers rather than delegating these powers. Like electoral systems, a variety of procedural forms, designs, and regulations are likely to influence processes and outcome. One must also keep in mind that direct-democratic processes cannot operate in isolation but are always linked to the structures of an overall political system that includes major representative institutions. Thus, interactions between the two types of institutions will be an important challenge for analysis. For instance, as George Tsebelis notes, referendum voters can be seen as an additional veto player. Some authors contend that direct democracy may undermine representative democracy, while others focus on the deliberative functions for a democratic public sphere and the capacity for integrating citizens in the democratic process. One can also assume that basic
... result of a direct democracy, complications like getting every citizen to vote on every single issue, something close to impossible with modern populations that grow like grass in springtime. These changes have caused democracy to become intertwined with other forms of government, and while they have caused a deviation from pure democracy, they have allowed countless nations to function efficiently while maintaining the basic pillar of democracy: that ultimate authority and power is derived from the citizens.
Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they deem appropriate and can denounce them once they no longer appease them. In this paper, the benefits of democracy are outlined, compared to autocratic communism, and finally the flaws of democracy are illustrated.
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.