199.67.138.43: slightly expanded article for clarity and cleaned formatting based on references

2026-04-26T19:44:43Z

slightly expanded article for clarity and cleaned formatting based on references

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:14, 27 April 2026
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	==History==		==History==
	{{See also\|Democratization}}		{{See also\|Democratization}}
	The [[Roman Republic]] ~~was the first known state in the~~ [[~~Western world~~]] ~~to have a representative government, despite taking~~ the ~~form~~ of ~~a direct government in~~ the [[Roman assemblies]]. The Roman model of governance would inspire many political thinkers over the centuries,<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Livy \|author1-link=Livy \|last2=De Sélincourt \|first2=A. \|last3=Ogilvie \|first3=R. M. \|last4=Oakley \|first4=S. P. \|title = The early history of Rome: books I-V of The history of Rome from its foundations \|publisher = Penguin Classics \|year = 2002 \|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHh7heON3sQC \|isbn = 0-14-044809-8 \|page = 34 }}</ref> ~~and today's modern representative democracies imitate more~~ the ~~Roman than the Greek model, because~~ it ~~was a state in which supreme power was held by the people and their elected representatives, and which had an elected or nominated leader.<ref>Watson, 2005, p~~. ~~271</ref>~~ Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives; as opposed to direct democracy, a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Budge, Ian\|chapter=Direct democracy\|editor1=Clarke, Paul A.B. \|editor2=Foweraker, Joe\|title=Encyclopedia of Political Thought\|publisher=Taylor & Francis\|year=2001\|isbn=978-0-415-19396-2\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srzDCqnZkfUC&pg=PA224}}</ref> A [[Europe]]an [[medieval]] tradition of selecting representatives from the various [[estates of the realm\|estates]] ([[social class\|classes]], but not as we know them today) to advise/control [[monarch]]s led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems.		The ancient republics like the [[Roman Republic]] or [[Ancient Athens]] didn't use representation but relied on the meeting of the citizenry ( see [[Roman assemblies]] or [[Ecclesia (ancient Greece)\|Ekklesia]]). The Roman model of governance was considered a mixture between (direct) democracy, aristocracy (in the form of senate for life) and monarchy (in the form of the consuls) and would inspire many political thinkers over the centuries (see [[mixed government]])
			<ref> {{cite book\|url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/6*.html \|title = Book VI of Histories}}</ref>
			<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Livy \|author1-link=Livy \|last2=De Sélincourt \|first2=A. \|last3=Ogilvie \|first3=R. M. \|last4=Oakley \|first4=S. P. \|title = The early history of Rome: books I-V of The history of Rome from its foundations \|publisher = Penguin Classics \|year = 2002 \|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHh7heON3sQC \|isbn = 0-14-044809-8 \|page = 34 }}</ref> but the need of convoking people at large made it impractical for large states.

			Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives; as opposed to direct democracy, a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Budge, Ian\|chapter=Direct democracy\|editor1=Clarke, Paul A.B. \|editor2=Foweraker, Joe\|title=Encyclopedia of Political Thought\|publisher=Taylor & Francis\|year=2001\|isbn=978-0-415-19396-2\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srzDCqnZkfUC&pg=PA224}}</ref> A [[Europe]]an [[medieval]] tradition of selecting representatives from the various [[estates of the realm\|estates]] ([[social class\|classes]], but not as we know them today) to advise/control [[monarch]]s led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems, with the noble and clerical estates being identified with the senatorial aristocracy, and the third estate being identified with the democratic element.

	In Britain, representative government grew in the late thirteenth century. The [[Oxford Parliament (1258)\|Oxford Parliament of 1258]] stripped the [[British king\|king]] of unlimited authority, and [[Simon de Montfort's Parliament]] of 1265 included both noblemen and citizens from each town.<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB \|last=Norgate \|first=Kate \|author-link=Kate Norgate \|wstitle=Montfort, Simon of (1208?-1265)\|volume=38 }}</ref><ref>Jobson, Adrian (2012). The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War. Bloomsbury. pp. 173–4. ISBN 978-1-84725-226-5.</ref><ref> "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</ref> Later, in the 17th century, the [[Parliament of England]] implemented some of the ideas and systems of [[Liberal democracy#Origins\|liberal democracy]], culminating in the [[Glorious Revolution]] and passage of the [[Bill of Rights 1689]].<ref>{{cite book\|editor1-last=Kopstein\|editor1-first=Jeffrey\|editor2-last=Lichbach\|editor2-first=Mark\|editor3-last=Hanson\|editor3-first=Stephen E.\|title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order\|date=2014\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-1139991384\|pages=37–9\|edition=4, revised\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2jwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38\|quote=Britain pioneered the system of liberal democracy that has now spread in one form or another to most of the world's countries}}</ref><ref name=refIIP>{{cite web\|title=Constitutionalism: America & Beyond\|url=http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|publisher=Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), U.S. Department of State\|access-date=30 October 2014\|quote=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.\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024130317/http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|archive-date=24 October 2014\|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Widening of the voting franchise took place through a series of [[Reform Acts]] in the 19th and 20th centuries.		In Britain, representative government grew in the late thirteenth century. The [[Oxford Parliament (1258)\|Oxford Parliament of 1258]] stripped the [[British king\|king]] of unlimited authority, and [[Simon de Montfort's Parliament]] of 1265 included both noblemen and citizens from each town.<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB \|last=Norgate \|first=Kate \|author-link=Kate Norgate \|wstitle=Montfort, Simon of (1208?-1265)\|volume=38 }}</ref><ref>Jobson, Adrian (2012). The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War. Bloomsbury. pp. 173–4. ISBN 978-1-84725-226-5.</ref><ref> "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</ref> Later, in the 17th century, the [[Parliament of England]] implemented some of the ideas and systems of [[Liberal democracy#Origins\|liberal democracy]], culminating in the [[Glorious Revolution]] and passage of the [[Bill of Rights 1689]].<ref>{{cite book\|editor1-last=Kopstein\|editor1-first=Jeffrey\|editor2-last=Lichbach\|editor2-first=Mark\|editor3-last=Hanson\|editor3-first=Stephen E.\|title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order\|date=2014\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-1139991384\|pages=37–9\|edition=4, revised\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2jwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38\|quote=Britain pioneered the system of liberal democracy that has now spread in one form or another to most of the world's countries}}</ref><ref name=refIIP>{{cite web\|title=Constitutionalism: America & Beyond\|url=http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|publisher=Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), U.S. Department of State\|access-date=30 October 2014\|quote=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.\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024130317/http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|archive-date=24 October 2014\|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Widening of the voting franchise took place through a series of [[Reform Acts]] in the 19th and 20th centuries.

			[[File:1790- Electoral and liberal democracy indices - world.svg \|thumb \|The [[V-Dem Institute]]'s index of electoral democracy (another term for representative democracy) peaked in 2012, and has since declined, with the decline accelerating in the early 2020s.<ref name=VDem_world>{{cite web \|title=Country Graph \|url=https://www.v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ \|publisher=V-Dem Institute \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260301172546/https://www.v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ \|archive-date=1 March 2026 \|date=March 2026 \|url-status=live}} (Choose "World" and under "VDem Indices" select "Election Democracy Index" and "Liberal Democracy Index". Click on the three horizontal lines in the upper right, and in the resulting drop-down menu choose "Download Graph Data as CSV")</ref>]]
	The [[American Revolution]] led to the creation of a new [[Constitution of the United States]] in 1787, with a national legislature based partly on direct elections of representatives every two years, and thus responsible to the electorate for continuance in office. [[United States Senate\|Senators]] were not directly elected by the people until the adoption of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Seventeenth Amendment]] in 1913. Women, men who owned no property, and Black people, and others not originally given voting rights, in most states eventually [[Voting rights in the United States#Background\|gained the vote through changes in state and federal law]] in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Until it was repealed by the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Fourteenth Amendment]] following the [[American Civil War\|Civil War]], the [[Three-Fifths Compromise]] gave a disproportionate representation of [[Slave states and free states\|slave states]] in the [[United States House of Representatives\|House of Representatives]] relative to the voters in free states.<ref>"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</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Expansion of Rights and Liberties\|date=30 October 2015\|publisher=National Archives\|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_13.html\|access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref>		The [[American Revolution]] led to the creation of a new [[Constitution of the United States]] in 1787, with a national legislature based partly on direct elections of representatives every two years, and thus responsible to the electorate for continuance in office. [[United States Senate\|Senators]] were not directly elected by the people until the adoption of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Seventeenth Amendment]] in 1913. Women, men who owned no property, and Black people, and others not originally given voting rights, in most states eventually [[Voting rights in the United States#Background\|gained the vote through changes in state and federal law]] in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Until it was repealed by the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Fourteenth Amendment]] following the [[American Civil War\|Civil War]], the [[Three-Fifths Compromise]] gave a disproportionate representation of [[Slave states and free states\|slave states]] in the [[United States House of Representatives\|House of Representatives]] relative to the voters in free states.<ref>"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</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Expansion of Rights and Liberties\|date=30 October 2015\|publisher=National Archives\|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_13.html\|access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref>

			The first recorded use of "representative democracy" is on a letter by Alexander Hamilton, where it is used to describe the New York Constitution, distinguishing it from both direct democracy and 'compound governments' <ref>cite web\|url=https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/alexander-hamilton-letter-to-gouverneur-morris-may-7-1777\| title: letter from Alexander Hamilton to Gouvernour Morris</ref>.

			Hamilton would use the term afterwards to describe the [[Constitution of the United States]] during the ratifying convention of New York<ref>cite web\|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0060 \| title: Notes to New York Ratifying convention </ref> meaning a government where power is in the people trough representatives directly or indirectly chosen by them.

	In 1789, [[Revolutionary France]] adopted the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] and, although short-lived, the [[National Convention]] was elected by all males in 1792.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|title=The French Revolution II \|publisher=Mars.wnec.edu \|access-date=2010-08-22 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827213104/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|archive-date=27 August 2008 \|df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[Universal male suffrage]] was re-established in France in the wake of the [[French Revolution of 1848]].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/suffrage_universel/suffrage-1848.asp\|title=1848 " Désormais le bulletin de vote doit remplacer le fusil "\|author=French National Assembly\|access-date=2009-09-26\|language=fr}}</ref>		In 1789, [[Revolutionary France]] adopted the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] and, although short-lived, the [[National Convention]] was elected by all males in 1792.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|title=The French Revolution II \|publisher=Mars.wnec.edu \|access-date=2010-08-22 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827213104/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|archive-date=27 August 2008 \|df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[Universal male suffrage]] was re-established in France in the wake of the [[French Revolution of 1848]].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/suffrage_universel/suffrage-1848.asp\|title=1848 " Désormais le bulletin de vote doit remplacer le fusil "\|author=French National Assembly\|access-date=2009-09-26\|language=fr}}</ref>

	Representative democracy came into general favour particularly in post-[[industrial revolution]] [[nation state]]s where large numbers of [[citizenship\|citizens]] evinced interest in [[politics]], but where technology and population figures remained unsuited to direct democracy.{{Citation needed\|date=August 2013}} Many historians credit the [[Reform Act 1832]] with launching modern representative democracy in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite book\|author1=A. Ricardo López\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-wPB0I-5yEC&pg=PA58\|title=The Making of the Middle Class: Toward a Transnational History\|author2=Barbara Weinstein\|publisher=Duke UP\|year=2012\|isbn=978-0822351290\|page=58}}</ref><ref>Eric J. Evans, ''The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870'' (2nd ed. 1996) p. 229</ref>		Representative democracy came into general favour particularly in post-[[industrial revolution]] [[nation state]]s where large numbers of [[citizenship\|citizens]] evinced interest in [[politics]], but where technology and population figures remained unsuited to direct democracy.{{Citation needed\|date=August 2013}} Many historians credit the [[Reform Act 1832]] with launching modern representative democracy in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite book\|author1=A. Ricardo López\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-wPB0I-5yEC&pg=PA58\|title=The Making of the Middle Class: Toward a Transnational History\|author2=Barbara Weinstein\|publisher=Duke UP\|year=2012\|isbn=978-0822351290\|page=58}}</ref><ref>Eric J. Evans, ''The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870'' (2nd ed. 1996) p. 229</ref>
	[[File:Congreso de los Diputados estructura 2023-2027 por CCAA.svg\|thumb\|Spain's [[Congress of Deputies]], one example of representative democracy]]		[[File:Congreso de los Diputados estructura 2023-2027 por CCAA.svg\|thumb\|Spain's [[Congress of Deputies]], 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.<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Roser\|first=Max\|date=2013-03-15\|title=Democracy\|url=https://ourworldindata.org/democracy\|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref>		Globally, a majority of governments in the world are representative democracies, including constitutional monarchies and republics with strong representative branches.<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Roser\|first=Max\|date=2013-03-15\|title=Democracy\|url=https://ourworldindata.org/democracy\|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref>
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	==Criticisms==		==Criticisms==
	In his book ''[[Political Parties (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]].<ref>Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie. Untersuchungen über die oligarchischen Tendenzen des Gruppenlebens (1911, 1925; 1970). Translated as ''Sociologia del partito politico nella democrazia moderna : studi sulle tendenze oligarchiche degli aggregati politici'', from the German original by Dr. Alfredo Polledro, revised and expanded (1912). Translated, from the Italian, by Eden and Cedar Paul as ''Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy'' (Hearst's International Library Co., 1915; Free Press, 1949; Dover Publications, 1959); republished with an introduction by Seymour Martin Lipset (Crowell-Collier, 1962; Transaction Publishers, 1999, {{ISBN\|0-7658-0469-7}}); translated in French by S. Jankélévitch, ''Les partis politiques. Essai sur les tendances oligarchiques des démocraties'', Brussels, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2009 ({{ISBN\|978-2-8004-1443-0}}).</ref>		In his book ''[[Political Parties (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]].<ref>Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie. Untersuchungen über die oligarchischen Tendenzen des Gruppenlebens (1911, 1925; 1970). Translated as ''Sociologia del partito politico nella democrazia moderna : studi sulle tendenze oligarchiche degli aggregati politici'', from the German original by Dr. Alfredo Polledro, revised and expanded (1912). Translated, from the Italian, by Eden and Cedar Paul as ''Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy'' (Hearst's International Library Co., 1915; Free Press, 1949; Dover Publications, 1959); republished with an introduction by Seymour Martin Lipset (Crowell-Collier, 1962; Transaction Publishers, 1999, {{ISBN\|0-7658-0469-7}}); translated in French by S. Jankélévitch, ''Les partis politiques. Essai sur les tendances oligarchiques des démocraties'', Brussels, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2009 ({{ISBN\|978-2-8004-1443-0}}).</ref>
	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.<ref>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.</ref> Adolf Gasser stated the following requirements for a representative democracy in order to remain stable, unaffected by the iron law of oligarchy:		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.<ref>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.</ref> 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.		* 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.		* 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.

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:14, 27 April 2026
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	==History==		==History==
	{{See also\|Democratization}}		{{See also\|Democratization}}
	The [[Roman Republic]] ~~was the first known state in the~~ [[~~Western world~~]] ~~to have a representative government, despite taking~~ the ~~form~~ of ~~a direct government in~~ the [[Roman assemblies]]. The Roman model of governance would inspire many political thinkers over the centuries,<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Livy \|author1-link=Livy \|last2=De Sélincourt \|first2=A. \|last3=Ogilvie \|first3=R. M. \|last4=Oakley \|first4=S. P. \|title = The early history of Rome: books I-V of The history of Rome from its foundations \|publisher = Penguin Classics \|year = 2002 \|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHh7heON3sQC \|isbn = 0-14-044809-8 \|page = 34 }}</ref> ~~and today's modern representative democracies imitate more~~ the ~~Roman than the Greek model, because~~ it ~~was a state in which supreme power was held by the people and their elected representatives, and which had an elected or nominated leader.<ref>Watson, 2005, p~~. ~~271</ref>~~ Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives; as opposed to direct democracy, a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Budge, Ian\|chapter=Direct democracy\|editor1=Clarke, Paul A.B. \|editor2=Foweraker, Joe\|title=Encyclopedia of Political Thought\|publisher=Taylor & Francis\|year=2001\|isbn=978-0-415-19396-2\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srzDCqnZkfUC&pg=PA224}}</ref> A [[Europe]]an [[medieval]] tradition of selecting representatives from the various [[estates of the realm\|estates]] ([[social class\|classes]], but not as we know them today) to advise/control [[monarch]]s led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems.		The ancient republics like the [[Roman Republic]] or [[Ancient Athens]] didn't use representation but relied on the meeting of the citizenry ( see [[Roman assemblies]] or [[Ecclesia (ancient Greece)\|Ekklesia]]). The Roman model of governance was considered a mixture between (direct) democracy, aristocracy (in the form of senate for life) and monarchy (in the form of the consuls) and would inspire many political thinkers over the centuries (see [[mixed government]])
			<ref> {{cite book\|url= https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/6*.html \|title = Book VI of Histories}}</ref>
			<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Livy \|author1-link=Livy \|last2=De Sélincourt \|first2=A. \|last3=Ogilvie \|first3=R. M. \|last4=Oakley \|first4=S. P. \|title = The early history of Rome: books I-V of The history of Rome from its foundations \|publisher = Penguin Classics \|year = 2002 \|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHh7heON3sQC \|isbn = 0-14-044809-8 \|page = 34 }}</ref> but the need of convoking people at large made it impractical for large states.

			Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives; as opposed to direct democracy, a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Budge, Ian\|chapter=Direct democracy\|editor1=Clarke, Paul A.B. \|editor2=Foweraker, Joe\|title=Encyclopedia of Political Thought\|publisher=Taylor & Francis\|year=2001\|isbn=978-0-415-19396-2\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=srzDCqnZkfUC&pg=PA224}}</ref> A [[Europe]]an [[medieval]] tradition of selecting representatives from the various [[estates of the realm\|estates]] ([[social class\|classes]], but not as we know them today) to advise/control [[monarch]]s led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems, with the noble and clerical estates being identified with the senatorial aristocracy, and the third estate being identified with the democratic element.

	In Britain, representative government grew in the late thirteenth century. The [[Oxford Parliament (1258)\|Oxford Parliament of 1258]] stripped the [[British king\|king]] of unlimited authority, and [[Simon de Montfort's Parliament]] of 1265 included both noblemen and citizens from each town.<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB \|last=Norgate \|first=Kate \|author-link=Kate Norgate \|wstitle=Montfort, Simon of (1208?-1265)\|volume=38 }}</ref><ref>Jobson, Adrian (2012). The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War. Bloomsbury. pp. 173–4. ISBN 978-1-84725-226-5.</ref><ref> "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</ref> Later, in the 17th century, the [[Parliament of England]] implemented some of the ideas and systems of [[Liberal democracy#Origins\|liberal democracy]], culminating in the [[Glorious Revolution]] and passage of the [[Bill of Rights 1689]].<ref>{{cite book\|editor1-last=Kopstein\|editor1-first=Jeffrey\|editor2-last=Lichbach\|editor2-first=Mark\|editor3-last=Hanson\|editor3-first=Stephen E.\|title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order\|date=2014\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-1139991384\|pages=37–9\|edition=4, revised\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2jwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38\|quote=Britain pioneered the system of liberal democracy that has now spread in one form or another to most of the world's countries}}</ref><ref name=refIIP>{{cite web\|title=Constitutionalism: America & Beyond\|url=http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|publisher=Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), U.S. Department of State\|access-date=30 October 2014\|quote=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.\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024130317/http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|archive-date=24 October 2014\|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Widening of the voting franchise took place through a series of [[Reform Acts]] in the 19th and 20th centuries.		In Britain, representative government grew in the late thirteenth century. The [[Oxford Parliament (1258)\|Oxford Parliament of 1258]] stripped the [[British king\|king]] of unlimited authority, and [[Simon de Montfort's Parliament]] of 1265 included both noblemen and citizens from each town.<ref name=dnb>{{cite DNB \|last=Norgate \|first=Kate \|author-link=Kate Norgate \|wstitle=Montfort, Simon of (1208?-1265)\|volume=38 }}</ref><ref>Jobson, Adrian (2012). The First English Revolution: Simon de Montfort, Henry III and the Barons' War. Bloomsbury. pp. 173–4. ISBN 978-1-84725-226-5.</ref><ref> "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</ref> Later, in the 17th century, the [[Parliament of England]] implemented some of the ideas and systems of [[Liberal democracy#Origins\|liberal democracy]], culminating in the [[Glorious Revolution]] and passage of the [[Bill of Rights 1689]].<ref>{{cite book\|editor1-last=Kopstein\|editor1-first=Jeffrey\|editor2-last=Lichbach\|editor2-first=Mark\|editor3-last=Hanson\|editor3-first=Stephen E.\|title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order\|date=2014\|publisher=Cambridge University Press\|isbn=978-1139991384\|pages=37–9\|edition=4, revised\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2jwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA38\|quote=Britain pioneered the system of liberal democracy that has now spread in one form or another to most of the world's countries}}</ref><ref name=refIIP>{{cite web\|title=Constitutionalism: America & Beyond\|url=http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|publisher=Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), U.S. Department of State\|access-date=30 October 2014\|quote=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.\|url-status=dead\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024130317/http://www.ait.org.tw/infousa/zhtw/DOCS/Demopaper/dmpaper2.html\|archive-date=24 October 2014\|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Widening of the voting franchise took place through a series of [[Reform Acts]] in the 19th and 20th centuries.

			[[File:1790- Electoral and liberal democracy indices - world.svg \|thumb \|The [[V-Dem Institute]]'s index of electoral democracy (another term for representative democracy) peaked in 2012, and has since declined, with the decline accelerating in the early 2020s.<ref name=VDem_world>{{cite web \|title=Country Graph \|url=https://www.v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ \|publisher=V-Dem Institute \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260301172546/https://www.v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ \|archive-date=1 March 2026 \|date=March 2026 \|url-status=live}} (Choose "World" and under "VDem Indices" select "Election Democracy Index" and "Liberal Democracy Index". Click on the three horizontal lines in the upper right, and in the resulting drop-down menu choose "Download Graph Data as CSV")</ref>]]
	The [[American Revolution]] led to the creation of a new [[Constitution of the United States]] in 1787, with a national legislature based partly on direct elections of representatives every two years, and thus responsible to the electorate for continuance in office. [[United States Senate\|Senators]] were not directly elected by the people until the adoption of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Seventeenth Amendment]] in 1913. Women, men who owned no property, and Black people, and others not originally given voting rights, in most states eventually [[Voting rights in the United States#Background\|gained the vote through changes in state and federal law]] in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Until it was repealed by the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Fourteenth Amendment]] following the [[American Civil War\|Civil War]], the [[Three-Fifths Compromise]] gave a disproportionate representation of [[Slave states and free states\|slave states]] in the [[United States House of Representatives\|House of Representatives]] relative to the voters in free states.<ref>"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</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Expansion of Rights and Liberties\|date=30 October 2015\|publisher=National Archives\|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_13.html\|access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref>		The [[American Revolution]] led to the creation of a new [[Constitution of the United States]] in 1787, with a national legislature based partly on direct elections of representatives every two years, and thus responsible to the electorate for continuance in office. [[United States Senate\|Senators]] were not directly elected by the people until the adoption of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Seventeenth Amendment]] in 1913. Women, men who owned no property, and Black people, and others not originally given voting rights, in most states eventually [[Voting rights in the United States#Background\|gained the vote through changes in state and federal law]] in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Until it was repealed by the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution\|Fourteenth Amendment]] following the [[American Civil War\|Civil War]], the [[Three-Fifths Compromise]] gave a disproportionate representation of [[Slave states and free states\|slave states]] in the [[United States House of Representatives\|House of Representatives]] relative to the voters in free states.<ref>"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</ref><ref>{{cite web\|title=Expansion of Rights and Liberties\|date=30 October 2015\|publisher=National Archives\|url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters_of_freedom_13.html\|access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref>

			The first recorded use of "representative democracy" is on a letter by Alexander Hamilton, where it is used to describe the New York Constitution, distinguishing it from both direct democracy and 'compound governments' <ref>cite web\|url=https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/alexander-hamilton-letter-to-gouverneur-morris-may-7-1777\| title: letter from Alexander Hamilton to Gouvernour Morris</ref>.

			Hamilton would use the term afterwards to describe the [[Constitution of the United States]] during the ratifying convention of New York<ref>cite web\|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0060 \| title: Notes to New York Ratifying convention </ref> meaning a government where power is in the people trough representatives directly or indirectly chosen by them.

	In 1789, [[Revolutionary France]] adopted the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] and, although short-lived, the [[National Convention]] was elected by all males in 1792.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|title=The French Revolution II \|publisher=Mars.wnec.edu \|access-date=2010-08-22 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827213104/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|archive-date=27 August 2008 \|df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[Universal male suffrage]] was re-established in France in the wake of the [[French Revolution of 1848]].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/suffrage_universel/suffrage-1848.asp\|title=1848 " Désormais le bulletin de vote doit remplacer le fusil "\|author=French National Assembly\|access-date=2009-09-26\|language=fr}}</ref>		In 1789, [[Revolutionary France]] adopted the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] and, although short-lived, the [[National Convention]] was elected by all males in 1792.<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|title=The French Revolution II \|publisher=Mars.wnec.edu \|access-date=2010-08-22 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827213104/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/wc2/lectures/rev892.html \|archive-date=27 August 2008 \|df=dmy-all }}</ref> [[Universal male suffrage]] was re-established in France in the wake of the [[French Revolution of 1848]].<ref>{{cite web \|url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/suffrage_universel/suffrage-1848.asp\|title=1848 " Désormais le bulletin de vote doit remplacer le fusil "\|author=French National Assembly\|access-date=2009-09-26\|language=fr}}</ref>

	Representative democracy came into general favour particularly in post-[[industrial revolution]] [[nation state]]s where large numbers of [[citizenship\|citizens]] evinced interest in [[politics]], but where technology and population figures remained unsuited to direct democracy.{{Citation needed\|date=August 2013}} Many historians credit the [[Reform Act 1832]] with launching modern representative democracy in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite book\|author1=A. Ricardo López\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-wPB0I-5yEC&pg=PA58\|title=The Making of the Middle Class: Toward a Transnational History\|author2=Barbara Weinstein\|publisher=Duke UP\|year=2012\|isbn=978-0822351290\|page=58}}</ref><ref>Eric J. Evans, ''The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870'' (2nd ed. 1996) p. 229</ref>		Representative democracy came into general favour particularly in post-[[industrial revolution]] [[nation state]]s where large numbers of [[citizenship\|citizens]] evinced interest in [[politics]], but where technology and population figures remained unsuited to direct democracy.{{Citation needed\|date=August 2013}} Many historians credit the [[Reform Act 1832]] with launching modern representative democracy in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite book\|author1=A. Ricardo López\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-wPB0I-5yEC&pg=PA58\|title=The Making of the Middle Class: Toward a Transnational History\|author2=Barbara Weinstein\|publisher=Duke UP\|year=2012\|isbn=978-0822351290\|page=58}}</ref><ref>Eric J. Evans, ''The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783–1870'' (2nd ed. 1996) p. 229</ref>
	[[File:Congreso de los Diputados estructura 2023-2027 por CCAA.svg\|thumb\|Spain's [[Congress of Deputies]], one example of representative democracy]]		[[File:Congreso de los Diputados estructura 2023-2027 por CCAA.svg\|thumb\|Spain's [[Congress of Deputies]], 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.<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Roser\|first=Max\|date=2013-03-15\|title=Democracy\|url=https://ourworldindata.org/democracy\|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref>		Globally, a majority of governments in the world are representative democracies, including constitutional monarchies and republics with strong representative branches.<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Roser\|first=Max\|date=2013-03-15\|title=Democracy\|url=https://ourworldindata.org/democracy\|journal=Our World in Data}}</ref>
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	==Criticisms==		==Criticisms==
	In his book ''[[Political Parties (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]].<ref>Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie. Untersuchungen über die oligarchischen Tendenzen des Gruppenlebens (1911, 1925; 1970). Translated as ''Sociologia del partito politico nella democrazia moderna : studi sulle tendenze oligarchiche degli aggregati politici'', from the German original by Dr. Alfredo Polledro, revised and expanded (1912). Translated, from the Italian, by Eden and Cedar Paul as ''Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy'' (Hearst's International Library Co., 1915; Free Press, 1949; Dover Publications, 1959); republished with an introduction by Seymour Martin Lipset (Crowell-Collier, 1962; Transaction Publishers, 1999, {{ISBN\|0-7658-0469-7}}); translated in French by S. Jankélévitch, ''Les partis politiques. Essai sur les tendances oligarchiques des démocraties'', Brussels, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2009 ({{ISBN\|978-2-8004-1443-0}}).</ref>		In his book ''[[Political Parties (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]].<ref>Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie. Untersuchungen über die oligarchischen Tendenzen des Gruppenlebens (1911, 1925; 1970). Translated as ''Sociologia del partito politico nella democrazia moderna : studi sulle tendenze oligarchiche degli aggregati politici'', from the German original by Dr. Alfredo Polledro, revised and expanded (1912). Translated, from the Italian, by Eden and Cedar Paul as ''Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy'' (Hearst's International Library Co., 1915; Free Press, 1949; Dover Publications, 1959); republished with an introduction by Seymour Martin Lipset (Crowell-Collier, 1962; Transaction Publishers, 1999, {{ISBN\|0-7658-0469-7}}); translated in French by S. Jankélévitch, ''Les partis politiques. Essai sur les tendances oligarchiques des démocraties'', Brussels, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2009 ({{ISBN\|978-2-8004-1443-0}}).</ref>
	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.<ref>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.</ref> Adolf Gasser stated the following requirements for a representative democracy in order to remain stable, unaffected by the iron law of oligarchy:		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.<ref>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.</ref> 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.		* 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.		* 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.

Representative democracy - Revision history

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