Representative democracy

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Representative democracy (also called electoral democracy or indirect democracy) is a

semi-presidential republic), and the United States (a federal presidential republic).[2] This is different from direct democracy, where the public votes directly on laws or policies, rather than representatives.[3]

political theorists (including Robert Dahl, Gregory Houston, and Ian Liebenberg) have described representative democracy as polyarchy.[5][6]

Representative democracy can be organized in different ways including both

constitutional democracy or a constitutional monarchy) or other measures to balance representative power:[7]

Some political theorists, such as Edmund 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.[8] A representative who chooses to execute the wishes of his or her constituents acts as a delegate. If the representative chooses to use his or her 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.

History

See also: Democratization

The

medieval tradition of selecting representatives from the various estates (classes, but not as we know them today) to advise/control monarchs
led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems.

In Britain,

king of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns.[14] Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England implemented some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy, culminating in the Glorious Revolution and passage of the Bill of Rights 1689.[15][16] Widening of the voting franchise took place through a series of Reform Acts
in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The

Three-Fifths Compromise gave a disproportionate representation of slave states in the House of Representatives relative to the voters in free states.[17][18]

In 1789,

Universal male suffrage was re-established in France in the wake of the French Revolution of 1848.[20]

Representative democracy came into general favour particularly in post-

industrial revolution nation states where large numbers of citizens evinced interest in politics, but where technology and population figures remained unsuited to direct democracy.[citation needed] Many historians credit the Reform Act 1832 with launching modern representative democracy in the United Kingdom.[21][22]

The U.S. House of Representatives, one example of representative democracy

Globally, a majority of governments in the world are representative democracies, including constitutional monarchies and republics with strong representative branches.[23]

Research on representation per se

Further information:
Representation (politics)

Separate but related, and very large, bodies of research in political philosophy and social science investigate how and how well elected representatives, such as legislators, represent the interests or preferences of one or another constituency. The empirical research shows that representative systems tend to be biased towards the representation of more affluent classes to the detriment of the population at large.[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]

Criticisms

In his book

Political Parties, written in 1911, Robert Michels argues that most representative systems deteriorate towards an oligarchy or particracy. This is known as the iron law of oligarchy.[32]
Representative democracies which are stable have been analysed by Adolf Gasser and compared to the unstable representative democracies in his book Gemeindefreiheit als Rettung Europas which was published in 1943 and a second edition in 1947.[33] Adolf Gasser stated the following requirements for a representative democracy in order to remain stable, unaffected by the iron law of oligarchy:

  • Society has to be built up from bottom to top. As a consequence, society is built up by people, who are free and have the power to defend themselves with weapons.
  • These free people join or form local communities. These local communities are independent, which includes financial independence, and they are free to determine their own rules.
  • Local communities join into a higher unit, e.g. a canton.
  • There is no hierarchical bureaucracy.
  • There is competition between these local communities, e.g. on services delivered or on taxes.

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.

marginalized.[35]

Proponents of

elite class that works behind closed doors, as well as the criticizing the elector system as being driven by a capitalistic and authoritarian system.[36][37]

Proposed solutions

The system of

electioneering
by economic oligarchs.

The system of deliberative democracy is 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.[39]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-75258-227-5
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  2. hdl:10016/25180
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  3. ^ "Victorian Electronic Democracy, Final Report – Glossary". 28 July 2005. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2007.
  4. ^ De Vos et al (2014) South African Constitutional Law – In Context: Oxford University Press.
  5. ^ Houston, G F (2001) Public Participation in Democratic Governance in South Africa, Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council HSRC Press
  6. ^ Dahl, R A (2005) "Is international democracy possible? A critical view", in Sergio Fabbrini (editor): Democracy and Federalism in the European Union and the United States: Exploring post-national governance: 195 to 204 (Chapter 13), Abingdon on the Thames: Routledge.
  7. ^ "CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY". www.civiced.org. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  8. ^ The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. Volume I. London: Henry G. Bohn. 1854. pp. 446–8. Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a Representative, to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the Law and the Constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
  9. ISBN 0-14-044809-8
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  10. ^ Watson, 2005, p. 271
  11. ISBN 978-0-415-19396-2
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  13. ^ "Simon de Montfort: The turning point for democracy that gets overlooked". BBC. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015; "The January Parliament and how it defined Britain". The Telegraph. 20 January 2015. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  14. ^ Norgate, Kate (1894). "Montfort, Simon of (1208?-1265)" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  15. ISBN 978-1139991384
    . Britain pioneered the system of liberal democracy that has now spread in one form or another to most of the world's countries
  16. ^ "Constitutionalism: America & Beyond". Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014. The earliest, and perhaps greatest, victory for liberalism was achieved in England. The rising commercial class that had supported the Tudor monarchy in the 16th century led the revolutionary battle in the 17th and succeeded in establishing the supremacy of Parliament and, eventually, of the House of Commons. What emerged as the distinctive feature of modern constitutionalism was not the insistence on the idea that the king is subject to the law (although this concept is an essential attribute of all constitutionalism). This notion was already well established in the Middle Ages. What was distinctive was the establishment of effective means of political control whereby the rule of law might be enforced. Modern constitutionalism was born with the political requirement that representative government depended upon the consent of citizen subjects... However, as can be seen through provisions in the 1689 Bill of Rights, the English Revolution was fought not just to protect the rights of property (in the narrow sense) but to establish those liberties which liberals believed essential to human dignity and moral worth. The "rights of man" enumerated in the English Bill of Rights gradually were proclaimed beyond the boundaries of England, notably in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 and in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789.
  17. ^ "We Hold These Truths to be Self-evident;" An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roots of Racism & slavery in America Kenneth N. Addison; Introduction P. xxii
  18. ^ "Expansion of Rights and Liberties". National Archives. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  19. ^ "The French Revolution II". Mars.wnec.edu. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  20. ^ French National Assembly. "1848 " Désormais le bulletin de vote doit remplacer le fusil "" (in French). Retrieved 26 September 2009.
  21. ISBN 978-0822351290
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  22. ^ Eric J. Evans, The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870 (2nd ed. 1996) p. 229
  23. ^ Roser, Max (15 March 2013). "Democracy". Our World in Data.
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  32. ISBN 978-2-8004-1443-0
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  33. ^ Gemeindefreiheit als Rettung Europas. Grundlinien einer ethischen Geschichtsauffassung. Verlag Bücherfreunde, Basel 1947. In 1983 republished under: "Gemeindefreiheit – kommunale Selbstverwaltung" (Adolf Gasser/Franz-Ludwig Knemeyer), in de reeks "Studien zur Soziologie", Nymphenburger, München, 1983.
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  36. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01361.x
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  37. ^ Heckert, Jamie (2010). "Anarchist roots & routes" (PDF). European Journal of Ecopsychology. 1: 19–36.
  38. ISBN 978-0520258099.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
  39. ^ Bohman, James (1997). Deliberative Democracy (PDF). MIT Press.

External links

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