Direct-Representative Democrac

A detailed Summary of Direct-Representative Democrac

a) Define and discuss direct democracy and representative democracy. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Critically analyze the benefits as well as the problems in light of contemporary American experience, including the California initiative process.

Lets start by defining the word "democracy"- is a term used to describe a political system in which the people are said to rule, directly or indirectly. The government is said to be democratic if it serves the "true interests" of the people, whether or not those people directly affect the making of those decisions. Democracy is also looked upon as "the rule of the many." Having citizens participate directly in either holding office or making policy, which is also often known as direct or participatory democracy. It is also defined as decision making by the voters themselves rather than through representatives. An example of this type of democracy would be a town meeting, in which citizens' vote on major issues.

Representative democracy is another political system in which leaders and representatives acquire political power by means of a competitive struggle for the people's vote. This form of governing is used by nations that are called democratic. This type of p

Decisions can only be reached after a process of bargaining, negotiation, and compromise among various interests (which James Madison called factions). This way majority rule is tempered by an ability to take into account the needs of a variety of interests and points of view. The initiative process provides for no such balancing. Initiative is defected in that it considers each voter as an isolated individual and defines the public will as the summation of all individual wills. But we are social beings with cultural, economic and religious interests, it would be unrealistic to simply view voters as an aggregation of isolated individuals. Representative democracy will expand and open up prospect for divergent points of view. No single view will dominate.

Those who are pro-direct democracy argue that this way is the best political system for the public because the greater the numbers of people participating the better the democracy. Participation of greater number of people is the key concept to defining what a democracy is al about. The people's rights to participate are protected. The voters will have access to information. The voters will have control over public decisions. The people make the final decision based upon the opportunity to be informed and engaged. The government will need the consent from the people with any decision making and the voters have the right to change their form of government. Direct democracy allows the people to have a mechanism by which they can act on a proposal directly. The voters won't have to deal with any other

Some common words found in the essay are:
, James Madison, direct democracy, representative democracy, political system, initiative process, town meeting, decisions people, decision voters, information voters, political power, democracy political,

Approximate Word count = 1052
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics