representative democracy
noun
plural representative democracies
: democracy in which the power is exercised by the people through their elected representatives : a form of government in which the people elect representatives to make decisions, policies, laws, etc.
One challenge to representative democracy is that voters must select from a small number of candidates to indicate their wants across many policy areas. Each candidate campaigns on a portfolio of different policies but none of these portfolios necessarily matches what the voter would prefer.—
Seth J. Hill
Seth J. Hill
also
: a country, state, or territory whose form of government is representative democracy compare direct democracy, pure democracy
Examples of representative democracy in a Sentence
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And within the government’s attempt to build a more representative democracy is a push to win the political support of traditionally remote populations, some of which have been affected by ongoing ethnic conflict and social tensions.
—Keith Rabin, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2015
But their effects on political discourse, representative democracy, and constitutional government have been, on the whole, malign.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
The left, Vought continued, has the ultimate goal of ending representative democracy altogether.
—Molly Redden, ProPublica, 28 Oct. 2024
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Keith Rabin, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2015
But their effects on political discourse, representative democracy, and constitutional government have been, on the whole, malign.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
The left, Vought continued, has the ultimate goal of ending representative democracy altogether.
—Molly Redden, ProPublica, 28 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Representative democracy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/representative%20democracy. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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