Sociology / Unit 9 Soc 1505 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Representative Democracy, or Republic
Captions available
The idea
A representative democracy, or republic, has citizens elect officials to make policy decisions on their behalf rather than voting on every law directly.
In practice
A citizen votes for a legislator who then votes on the bills that citizen never personally reviews.
Where people slip
"Republic" and "representative democracy" name the same structure; this course treats them as synonyms rather than as competing terms.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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