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Representative Democracy
The most common form of democracy, in which representatives are elected by the people to make political decisions on their behalf. This system differs from a direct democracy, in which all citizens participate in political decision making. A direct democracy theoretically can only work where there are a small number of citizens, because people need to physically gather in one place and vote. Representatives are elected in a democracy in usually one of two ways: the plurality-majority method or the proportional-representation method.
The plurality-majority method is a “winner takes all” voting system in which the winner is the one who has gained the most votes. This system is common in Great Britain and her former colonies, including the United States. The majority system is usually employed ...