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Democracy

 

This series is part of the Politics and the

Forms of government series

▪ Democracy                          ▪       History

▪ Varieties                             ▪       List of types

▪ Anticipatory democracy        ▪       Athenian democracy

▪ Christian democracy             ▪       Consensus democracy

▪ Deliberative democracy        ▪       Demarchy

▪ Direct democracy               ▪       Grassroots democracy

▪ Illiberal democracy              ▪       Islamic democracy

▪ Liberal democracy               ▪       Messianic democracy

▪ Non-partisan democracy       ▪       Participatory democracy

▪ Religious democracy            ▪       Representative democracy

▪ Republican democracy          ▪       Social democracy

▪ Soviet democracy                 ▪       Totalitarian democracy

Politics Portal á                   Forms of government

              Part of the Politics series

 

List of forms of government

▪ Anarchy                              ▪       Aristocracy

▪ Authoritarianism                  ▪       Autocracy

▪ Band society                        ▪       Chiefdom

▪ Colony                                ▪       Communist state

▪ Corporatocracy                    ▪       Democracy

Direct democracy                Representative democracy

▪ Despotism                           ▪       Dictatorship

Military dictatorship             ▪     Feudalism

▪ Kleptocracy                         ▪       Kritarchy

▪ Krytocracy                          ▪       Meritocracy

▪ Monarchy

Absolute monarchy                Constitutional monarchy

Empire

▪ Ochlocracy                          ▪       Oligarchy

▪ Plutocracy                           ▪       Puppet state

▪ Republic

Mixed government

Constitutional republic                 Parliamentary republic

Socialist republic                         Capitalist republic

▪ Robocracy                           ▪       Single-party state

▪ Technocracy                        ▪       Theocracy

▪ Theodemocracy                   ▪       Timocracy

▪ Totalitarianism                    ▪       Tribe

Politics Portal


 

This article is about the form of democracy. For the movement in the British Conservative Party, see Direct Democracy.

Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy,[1] comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. Depending on the particular system, this assembly might pass executive motions, make law, elect and dismiss officials and conduct trials. Where the assembly elects officials, these are executive agents or direct representatives, bound to the will of the people. Direct democracy stands in contrast to representative democracy, where sovereignty is exercised by a subset of the people, usually on the basis of election.

 

Modern direct democracy is characterized by 3 pillars:

▪ Initiative                             ▪       Recall

▪ Referendum including binding referendums

 

Referendums can include the ability to hold a binding referendum on whether a given law should be scrapped. This effectively grants the populace a veto on government legislation. Recalls gives the people the right to remove from office elected officials before the end of their term.