Direct and Indirect Democracy

Democracy is a form of government where the people hold supreme power, each individual with a single vote that can be cast in favor or against a government program. In a democracy, a government is founded on the response of the people’s actions. Democracy is divided into two forms; direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy is a system that gives citizens the right to influence decisions or be active in the decision making process. In an indirect democracy, citizens chose a small group of people to represent their views and participate in government administration of their behalf.

Differences between the two Forms of Democracy

In a direct democracy, the people decide on government policies directly while in indirect democracy, people appoint representatives who make government decisions in their place. The whole community constitutes the legislature in indirect democracy while in indirect democracy, the legislature is formed by individuals selected by the people through a vote. Representatives from the party with the winning majority form the government. Direct democracy is usually suitable for nations with a small population while indirect democracy fits a country with a large number of people.

A good example of direct democracy was Athens where Athenians were required to give their opinion on all major government issues through a vote. An example of indirect democracy is Britain.

Politics

Politics is a process of competing for power and is affiliated with the governance of a nation or a certain geographical area. The contested interest in governance is usually about the distribution of material goods. Politics can be found in trade unions that represent the interests of workers. Usually, workers that have come together to form a single bargaining block in a trade union select several people to certain seats in highly contested races.