representative republic vs direct democracy

Many referendums are voted on this way, such as the Scottish independence (from the United Kingdom) referendum in 2014 and the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum (popularly referred to as Brexit) in 2016. This is a basic example of direct democracy.

Its members would vote on their preference, and the town’s government would follow the will of the people and go with their choice. What is a direct democracy?įor example, if a town only had enough funding to repair either their sewer system or roads, it might ask the citizens to vote on which one should get the money. In Athens, the people (Greek, dêmos) held the power (Greek, krátos) and made the decisions for their society-forming a dēmokratía.īut it’s essential to note the people who are able to vote in Athens only included certain non-enslaved Athenian men, making this direct democracy very different from the way we understand democracy today. It comes from the Greek dēmokratía, meaning “popular government.” Ancient Greece was home to what most consider to be the oldest form of democracy, the city-state of Athens. The word democracy dates back in English to around 1525–1535.

What does democracy mean?Ī democracy is defined as “government by the people a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.” A nation with this form of government is also referred to as a democracy.Ī democracy is achieved by conducting free elections in which eligible people 1) vote on issues directly, known as a direct democracy, or 2) elect representatives to handle the issues for them, called a representative democracy. Let’s brush up on these two words to see what they have in common-and what sets them apart. With a major and heated US election underway, it’s the perfect time for some Government 101. We don’t blame you for confusing these two terms. Is that possible? Are democracies and republics the same thing or different? At the same time, you probably also hear both of these countries called republics.

You probably hear countries like the United States or France referred to as democracies.

Representative republic vs direct democracy