Meaning & use
direct democracy
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Meaning
noununcountable
A system of government in which citizens vote on laws and decisions themselves, rather than choosing people to decide for them.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: direct democracy is hard in large nations.
Patterns
- practice direct democracy
- direct democracy versus representative democracy
In ancient Athens, citizens gathered to vote on laws, a form of direct democracy.
Referendums are one way to bring direct democracy into modern politics.
Many small towns still use direct democracy at their annual town meetings.
Common combinations
- practice direct democracy
- The village practices direct democracy at its yearly assembly.
- direct democracy and referendums
- Direct democracy and referendums often go together.
- a form of direct democracy
- The town meeting is a form of direct democracy.
- advocate direct democracy
- The party advocates direct democracy through citizen petitions.
- direct democracy in practice
- Direct democracy in practice needs informed voters.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pure democracy
- Pure democracy is an older phrase for the same idea and often appears in historical texts.
- participatory democracy
- Participatory democracy is wider, stressing citizen involvement in many ways, not only voting on laws.
- popular rule
- Popular rule is vaguer and does not describe the voting method.
Opposites
Word family
- democracy noun
- government by the people
- democratic adjective
- based on or favoring democracy
- democratically adverb
- in a democratic way
- referendum noun
- a vote on a single question
Commonly confused: direct democracy or representative democracy?
direct democracy vs representative democracy
In a representative democracy, citizens elect others to make laws for them, which is the opposite of voting on each law personally.
Practice
In a direct democracy, how are most laws decided?
Choose one answer.
In direct democracy the citizens themselves decide. Elected delegates deciding is representative democracy, a likely mix-up.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “direct democracy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.