types of democracy

Society

2022

We explain what are the types of democracy and the characteristics of direct, indirect and semi-direct democracy.

In all types of democracy sovereignty is in the hands of the citizens.

What are the types of democracy?

The democracy is a model of government in which the sovereignty resides in the people, that is, in which the group of governed individuals has the power to choose, in one way or another, whom they consider suitable to hold the can.

Although it was not the same as the current one, this type of government was born in the Ancient Greece, within the society Athenian. After the Middle Ages and after the fall of the Old Regime of the aristocratic monarchy, democracy reappeared as a consequence of the rise of the bourgeoisie What class world dominant.

However, not all forms of democracy are identical. Often, when speaking of democratic processes we are not referring to exactly the same mechanisms and procedures, although they do have the same principles on public sovereignty, republican institutions and Rule of law.

For this reason, below, we will see what are the types of democracy that are usually talked about: direct, indirect and semi-direct democracy.

Direct (or participatory) democracy

Direct democracy is one in which the widest possible range of decisions is consulted with the people, through referendums, assemblies and other types of consultative mechanism, so that it is the collective who makes the decisions directly.

In them it is frequent the conformation of assemblies of popular participation, from which emerge delegates or spokespersons in charge of raising to the instances of power the petitions and resolutions taken locally.

This type of democracy is the one that allows the greatest degree of closeness between the people and the government. However, it has the disadvantage of multiplying bureaucratic instances and slowing down and making the process of decision making, since consultations and referendums require weather, money and effort.

Indirect (or representative) democracy

In indirect democracy, the representatives make decisions for the people.

In this form of democracy, the sovereignty of the nation It resides in the popular representatives, elected by suffrage, either of a direct type (people elect their representatives) or of an indirect type (people elect delegates who, in turn, elect representatives).

This democratic system works based on the consideration that not everything can be submitted to a popular consultation, at least not if it is desired to have an operative State in charge of more matters than the constant consultation of the popular will.

Thus, the latter is transferred to a number of freely elected political representatives, to make the pertinent decisions, that is, to interpret and execute the will of the people.

Representative democracy can in turn be of the following types:

  • Parlamentary democracy. That in which the head of government is exercised by a Prime Minister belonging to the executive wing of parliament (legislative).
  • Presidential democracy. The one in which the executive power falls on a president elected by direct popular suffrage, independent of the work of the legislative power.
  • Soviet democracy. The one in which workers Y citizens belonging to certain sectors or locations, they elect delegates before a council of local political power (traditionally called soviets), who in turn elect representatives before the regional soviets, from which representatives emerge before the higher government levels.

Semi-direct democracy

For some authors, there is a third form of democracy that combines some elements of direct and indirect, thus constituting a "semi-direct" democracy.

In this case, political power is controlled by elected leaders through popular suffrage, but most of their decisions must be supported by the people, through referendums, consultations or plebiscites.

Through this type of democracies, it is sought to find an intermediate option that is more efficient than direct democracy, but that does not distance the people so much from the exercise of power, which is frequent in representative democracies, in which a political class ends up becoming an elite .

Other classifications

There are other ways of classifying democracy, which do not have to do with its decision-making mechanisms, but with its ideological orientation, for example. In that case, we can talk about:

  • Social democracy. This is how a version of democracy is known in which the State intervenes in the functioning of the economy when deemed necessary, through regulations, social programs or financial aid, with the objective to mitigate or reduce the negative effects of capitalism, as the inequality and social injustice. In that sense, it pursues the notions of social justice, equal opportunities and is based on universal suffrage.
  • Liberal democracy. This term was initially used to refer to the resurgence of democracy after the fall of the Old Regime, and to name the new democratic republics supported by the Liberty economic, political and social, but in recent times it is used as an alternative to social democracy, that is, as a democracy that intervenes little or nothing in economic affairs and is committed to self-regulation of market affairs, providing only a legal framework and legal minimum so that the company can freely carry out its commercial and financial activities.
  • Constitutional monarchies. Although these are democratic models in which royalty and the aristocracy are still considered, in it their powers and faculties are enormously limited, often restricting them to the merely symbolic, diplomatic or representative, while the political leadership of the country is given under the terms of a parliamentary democracy. Even so, there are certain formal and informal powers at the disposal of the kings, as stipulated by the National Constitution.
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