Types of Democracy

1 Saylor # Saylor of7 Types of DemocracyThe democratic form of government is an institutional configuration that allows forpopular participation through the electoral to political scientistRobert Dahl,thedemocratic ideal is based on two principles: political participation andpolitical requires thatall the people whoare eligibletovotecan must be free, fair, and the votes havebeen cast and the winner announced, power mustbe peacefully transferred from oneindividual to criteria are to be replicated on alocal, state, and more robust conceptualization of Democracy emphasizes what Dahl refers toas political refers to the ability of people to express theirdiscontent through freedom of the speech and should have the ability tomeet and discuss their views onpolitical issues without fear of persecution from regimes that guarantee both electoral freedoms and civil rights arereferred to as liberal the subfield of Comparative Politics, there is a rich body of literature dealingspecifically with the intricacies of the democratic form of government.

2 These scholarlyworks draw distinctions between democratic regimes based onrepresentativegovernment,the institutional balance of power, and theelectoral aremany shades of Democracy , each of which has its own benefits and ofDemocracyThe broadest differentiation that scholars make between democracies is basedon the nature of representative are two categories: directdemocracy and representative Democracy . We can identify examples of both in theworld DemocracyDirect Democracy places all power in the hands of the politicaldecisions must be made, all members of a politygather togetherand individuals cast theory, this sounds like the ideal form of are person is treated as an equal, and each person is given a chancetodirectlyinfluence the policymaking practice, however, this system is hardto , small political communities tend to use direct towns or indigenous communities where everyone knows one another and theissues under debate directly affect them, such an arrangement is.

3 Oncethere is an expansion in the size of the electorate and the scope of policy areas, directdemocracy can America today, thousands of laws areimplemented and repealed on a daily a direct Democracy framework inthis type of political environment would be quite # Saylor of7 Representative DemocracyAs political communities change and evolve, so does our understanding of howdemocracy should be second major type of Democracy is referred toas representative political arrangement establishes an intermediarypolitical actor between the individual and the policy outputs of the theelectoral process, one person or a group of people are elected and assigned with thetask of making decisions on behalf of the group of citizens that they represent.

4 In theUnited States, we have multiple state hastworepresentatives inthe upper house, or Senate. In the lower house, or House of Representatives, thenumber of intermediariesappointed is based on the population size of each state. It isimportant to note that while the power of the individual is diminished slightly, politicalrepresentatives are still beholden to the group that they represent, also known as their constituency. In the US, members of both the House of Representatives and Senateface regular elections, during whichthe public evaluates their performance. If citizensare pleased, thenit is expected that the representative willbe repetitiveprocess creates a relationship of accountability between voters andthose that they putinto defeat serves as a deterrent to a politician s temptation to err fromthe preferences of his or her creation ofthe intermediaryrole begs the following questions:What does itreally mean to be a representative of the interests of a collective of individuals?

5 What ifthe set of policies that voters want does not really serve their interests?What shouldthe representative do?Some scholars argue that it is the responsibility of the electedrepresentative to carry out the wishes of the constituency, even if it harms isknown as the delegate model. Conversely, some argue thatpoliticians are voters continue to engage in their everyday lives, politicians are in the thick ofcongressional understand the intricacies and implications of policiesmore than their constituents ever could,so in some circumstances, political leadersshould be given the benefit of the model is known as the trustee model.

6 The trustee model does not mean that voter-representative accountability isunimportant; rather, it recognizes asymmetries in information and knowledge that existbetween the public at large and elected could argue that it is actuallyimpossible to representthe interest , all representativesare trustees as they must make educated guesses about what their power base wouldwant and should want. Sometimes representativeswill be right, and sometimes theywill be isimportant is that we place our trust in their ability to makerational and well-informed electoral process responds to arepresentative s failure (real or perceived) by most likely removing the representativefrom of DemocracyThe broad category of Types of Democracy can be further divided into systems of are two subcomponents of the representative type.

7 TheSaylor # Saylor of7parliamentary system and the presidential is one system that is asubcomponent of the direct type, which is mixed factors that distinguishone system from another are electoral procedure,the distribution of power between theexecutive and the parliament, andthe role of political systems have fullyfunctioning legislatures that specialize in the following tasks:managing the budget,helping to form public opinion, representing the public at large, and controlling parliamentary SystemThere are more parliamentary systems in the world than the name suggests, parliamentary systems are distinct because of thepower that they place in the hands of the legislative of this type ofsystem areGermany and the United Kingdom.

8 This institutionalconfiguration involvesvoters selecting parliamentary representatives. The party that wins the largest numberof congressional seats then selects the head of government also known as the PrimeMinister, Chancellor, or characteristic that is specific to this system ofgovernment isthe split split executive consists of the head ofgovernment and the head of a member ofparliament, the head ofgovernmentcontrols the legislative process and sets the policymaking , thehead of state serves as theceremonial representative of the example, inthe UnitedKingdom, David Cameronis the head of government. Cameron collaborateswith his party on domestic policy, works with opposition parties and negotiates withexecutives of other countries concerning issues of foreign Elizabeth II isthe head of state.

9 As such, she does not propose, revise or veto laws. She does notcontrol the actions of the Prime Minister and cannot remove him from office. As theceremonial leader,she is present at state and international events to represent thenation of Great Britain. For example,at the recent 2012 London Olympics, the Queenserved as the face of the United Kingdom as she greeted the athletes of the electoral process in parliamentary systems influences the power dynamicbetween the executive (head of government) and the these branchesof government are distinct entities,in many ways, they are fused thePrime Minister is placed in power by members of his own party or a coalition containinghis party, there are always commonalities inopinion across various policy is neither the commander in chief nor does it have the ability to appoint anddismiss members of the are executive responsibilities.

10 What isimportant here is the common party leads toa mostlycooperative disagreementsarise between the legislature and the Prime Minister, whichis inevitable, the power of the parliament reigns is important to know a littlebit more about what these legislative bodies look like to understand how this processplays out and the implications that it has for the democratic process. The electoralsystem in parliamentary democracies is based on proportional representation means that parties win seats based not on a majority vote,as is the case in presidential systems (see below), but based on the proportion of votesSaylor # Saylor of7that they example, a party winning 35% of votes from the electorate isallocated approximately 35% of the seats in the anarrangementensures that partiesrepresenting smaller portions of the constituency are given achance to influence the parliamentary system gains in representation,itloses in efficiency and large number of parties sometimesmakes itimpossible for a single party to gain the majority that is needed for them to select thePrime a result.