Representative Democracy

Each individual is born in a different nature and is nurtured differently, with different ideologies, beliefs, and values. Opinions are shaped on life, and new perspectives are formed. Priorities differ as each individual determines their own needs, wants, and desires. When a government takes the form of a democracy, it does so in the attempt to represent the beliefs and values of the people, maintaining order, providing public services and goods, setting goals for public policy, and preserving culture. A government does this either by a direct democracy where citizens have a direct say in government. Or, a representative democracy takes place where citizens vote for and elect a representative to represent them in senate, congress, etc. However, …show more content…
The government already has authority and power over its citizens. Thus, the first step is to protect citizens from the government’s power. Then, grant citizens power. States tend to protect citizens and limit governmental power by creating a constitution (a set of rules that distributes power). However, in order for the constitution to survive and support the democratic regime, it must have: variations in formality, virtue of vagueness, withstanding long-standing traditions of government, difficult in terms of amenability, and incentive compatibility (Shively, 206-209). This can limit the government’s power and corruption, while at the same time, protecting citizens. If the constitution isn’t written correctly, it can destroy the democratic regime. A democratic government must provide the means for its citizens to have power over government. According to Charles Tilly, adult citizens must be able to: effectively participate (have equal and effective opportunities for their voices to be heard in regard to policy), voting equality (have equal and effective opportunity to vote, and all votes must be worth the same), enlightened understanding (have reasonable time limit, equal and effective opportunities for learning about the relevant alternative policies and their consequences), control of the agenda (have the opportunity to …show more content…
A democracy needs a balance of power; to protect the people and grant people power over government. A democracy needs a state to uphold its ideals and values, while still maintaining some form of liberalism into the mix. The state must keep affluence, the growth of inflation (modernly), increasing equality, a good position in international climate, and parliamentary institutions in order to steady its regime and continue its support. All together, achieving a democracy proves to be challenging to achieve, let alone uphold. Especially since a lot of values and beliefs can be upheld over other critical values in a democracy, and troubles and challenges that threaten the