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Representative Democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government in which the citizens of the state exercise their popular sovereignty through legitimately elected representatives. In a representative democracy, the citizens choose their representatives by voting in elections. Typically, the chosen representatives then congregate in a legislative assembly in which they debate policy and determine legislation. Representative democracy is often contrasted with more participatory forms of democracy in which citizens play an active role in the decision-making process.
The classical theory of representative democracy suggests that the representatives should act in accord with the will or interests of the citizens. Yet, the representatives do not simply act as a proxy for the relevant citizens; rather, they have considerable discretion, and so can adopt the positions that they believe will ...
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