The Types Of Parliamentary Democracies

Direct democracy can be defined as a system of democracy in which citizens participate in the majority of legislation; therefore, granting them political self-determination. A representative democracy (also indirect democracy) is a form of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people. A direct democracy has leaders that are chosen specifically by “The People”. There is no Electoral College, or elected officials, to cast the votes of the people, the people cast their own direct votes.

Representative Democracy – the citizens choose a smaller group to represent them, make laws, and govern on their behalf, but the people remain the source of the government’s authority.

many elect the few who govern. Pure or direct democracies (countries in which all the citizens

A democratic government is a system of government within which power is vested in the people, who either rule directly or through freely elected representatives. In a democratic government, there are various features which are manifested by all three Australian, American and the British systems.

However, a major aspect of democracy is majority rule. This majority vote can be influenced by predominate structures that only provide one forced option. Additionally, majority rule can prevent the deliberation with the minority group. As Crick defines politics, there must be deliberation and compromise with all parties (21). The minority in result of democracy can lose its voice. Crick states, “The late Ernest Bevin once told a Trade Union Conference that it was not democratic for a minority to continue to question the decisions of a majority- and he received equally sincere and astonishing reply that democracy meant that he could say what he liked, when he liked, how he liked” (57). Therefore, majority rule in democracy eliminates the process of compromise with both the majority and minority. A process that is needed in

The majoritarian electoral democracy, gives the people the power and/or right to participate directly in a political part and to self-represent. Followed by Abraham Lincoln’s famous slogan “ of the people, by the people, for the people”. The majoritarian political system, influence whether or not a person vote for a particular candidate or a particular party. This is known as the elections. Where the citizen has been giving the opportunity to choose a single person based on ones on belief or a whole party ( Ex; in the U.S we have two major parties from where we can choose on , democratic party and republican party. Among others single small parties). We called it Economic Elite Domination when the minority or small portion of a party gets the

Along with the majoritarian democracy, there is also relationship in the models of pluralist democracy. Everything slightly revolves around one another; elections, majoritarian, and pluralist democracies. As said in Dr. Overton’s PowerPoint, “Majoritarianism is growing in the Congress due to the rise in party unity. Problem is: they hate each other!” (Overton). The pluralist democracy can be defined as the top of a pyramid

Similar to the consensus model the majoritarian model of governance aims to govern for the people, however, the majoritarian model believes the non-governing party should always oppose (Lijphart 30). This form of governance indicates that once a party is not elected into office, their ideas for ruling should be excluded from all forms of governance. This form of governing excludes a large portion of the population, not only the members of the opposition but as well as the people who voted for the opposing

In general, a democracy is a form of government that gives power to the people. There are various forms that specify the amount of power and to whom it is admitted. A direct democracy is “a form of government in which the people decide policy matters directly”(Mott 1), for example voting on ballot referendums or attending town hall meetings. The people make the policies and complete decisions based on majority rule. The nation’s vast geography makes a direst democracy difficult. This term often gets confused with a representative democracy, which is the United States’ form of government. A representative democracy is

Terms to know: Democracy - control of an organization or group by the majority of its members.

Democracy is a form of government which dominates the western world. In democracy, every person is given equal input into matters of the state, although this does happen to varying degrees. There exist many different types of democracy. Absolute or direct democracy occurs when each citizen personally participates in all decision-making processes. This system is difficult to maintain due to the vast number of people and the necessity for all people to be informed, logical, and educated when making many decisions. This form of democracy has not existed in significant sized populations. Representative democracy is a type of government in which the people elect government officials to make decisions concerning the state. The two most prevalent types of representative democracy are democratic republics and parliamentary democracies. In a democratic republic, such as the United States or Canada, the people elect both their representatives in government and their head of state. In a parliamentary democracy, such as the United Kingdom or Australia, the people elect their representatives and their representatives elect their head of state.

In the reading “ Patterns of democracy” Lijphart states there are five different dimensions of the majoritarian-consensus typology which are based not only on characteristics of the party system, electoral system and government coalitions, but on federal vs. unitary traits as well. The first characteristic of Lijphart’s five dimensions is closely related with the majoritarian system in that it consists of a one party cabinet concentration of power versus a multiparty sharing

The way that a country is controlled by the government depends on the relationship between the legislative and executive authority. Most democratic nations, today, generally use one of two governmental systems, either a parliamentary system or a presidential system. Today most of Europe prefers to use a parliamentary system, whereas the presidential form of government is preferred in places such as South Korea, South America and the United States. The differences between these two governmental systems are not obvious at first, but there are some key differences. However, neither one of them is necessarily superior to the other.

It has also been suggested that a basic feature of democracy is the capacity of eligible voters to participate freely and fully in the life of their society.[14] With its emphasis on notions of social contract and the collective will of the eligible voters, democracy can also be characterized as a form of political collectivism because it is defined as a form of government in which all eligible citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.[15]

However, more recently different voting systems have been used by devolved powers throughout the U.K – like the Scottish parliament -- as well as for other votes such as the European Parliament. (Ministry of Justice, 2008, pp. 24-25) These different voting systems are based on proportional representation, a term which characterises various types of electoral system, but share one main idea – the proportion of votes received correlates directly with the amount of seats a party wins. As democracy has become more widespread, other countries within Europe have naturally developed different electoral systems. Particularly, France is one of the few other countries in Europe who practice a very similar type of electoral system as the United Kingdom. The majority of countries in Europe, such as Germany, favour systems with an element of proportional representation.