Definition And Types Of Democracy Essay

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Definition And Types Of Democracy

Democracy - a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people. This means it is exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

Legitimacy - the state or quality of being legitimate, and so according to law and established rules and principles.

Direct democracy - A democracy in which the power to govern lies directly in the hands of the people rather than being exercised through their representatives. An example of this would be the Swiss government.

Representative democracy - A democracy in which the power to govern is given to elected officials representing a group of people, such as the UK parliament.

Types of representative democracy include: …show more content…

Liberal democracy - A form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism, so protects the rights of the individual, which are generally enshrined in law. Constitutional republics like France and Germany have employed liberal democracy, as well as presidential systems like the USA.

Political participation - Political participation is any activity that shapes, affects, or involves the political sphere, such as voting or attending a protest.


UK Voting Systems — Main Systems And How They Work

An electoral system is the method that votes are counted and results calculated in an election. There are three main types of electoral system:

Majoritarian system - systems that tend to be simple and lead to governments having strong majorities, but are often disproportional.
UK general elections local elections
Mayoral elections

Proportional representation - seats are distributed by the number of votes, while more proportional, some systems can sometimes be seen as more complex than necessary.
GB European parliament

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