Representative democracy

➢ Representative democracy, as a principle of democracy, requires a system

of governance in which members of a political community actively engage
indirectly in the governance of their community through elected
representatives. This type of democracy assumes that citizens elect
politicians to govern on their behalf for a specified period of time prior to the
next election. Because some elections require voters to vote for political
parties rather than individual representatives, political parties are frequently
central to this form of democracy.1

Participatory democracy

➢ Participatory democracy is primarily focused on ensuring that citizens have

the opportunity to participate and be involved in decisions that affect their
lives.2

The primary difference among participatory democracy and representative democracy

is that in a participatory form of government, all qualified and of age citizens of the
concerned nation can participate in all decision-making processes that impact the
entire country. Representative democracy allows people to vote for their
representatives, who then lead the system on their behalf.

1
Pierre De Vos, Freedman, W., Boggenpoel, Z.-Z., Gevers, C., Lenaghan, P., Namakula, Catherines.S., Mailula,
D. and Sibanda, S. (2019). South African constitutional law in context. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

2
Pierre De Vos, Freedman, W., Boggenpoel, Z.-Z., Gevers, C., Lenaghan, P., Namakula, Catherines.S., Mailula,
D. and Sibanda, S. (2019). South African constitutional law in context. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.