Similarities & Differences - Direct & Representative

• Both are types of democracy designed to implement the will of the people and based on the concept of majority rule, with the people voting playing an important role.

  • Citizens still vote on policy in representative democracy, by voting for representatives who align with their policy positions.
• They can both be implemented at different levels of government, including local, regional and national.
• in both systems, the people can be swayed by powerful and clever individuals, including politicians and those in the media. This can happen in all votes in direct democracy and at election times in representative democracies.
• Direct democracy plays an important role in representative democracy, for example through petitions and pressure groups which put forward the views of the public.
• In direct democracy, individuals express opinions themselves, whereas in representative democracy citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf.
• Citizens are much more involved in decision making on a regular basis in direct democracy, requiring a lot more of citizens.
• in representative democracy, there are political parties, whereas there aren’t in direct democracy, though there are campaigns on each side of the debate.
• In representative democracy, a government is elected which can be held to account by the people.
• There are more protections and representation for minorities in representative democracy, whereas direct democracy acts through rule of the majority.
• representative democracy can be seen as being able to handle complex and technical political decisions whilst direct democracy can’t.