Page 199 - SST Class 06

segregation and made changes in the constitu- supreme court or constitutional court, with
tion. Elections were held in South Africa in 1994. the authority to declare something the
Nelson Mandela became the first black president representative government decides on to be
of South Africa. It was a victory for the black unconstitutional.
people who had been fighting for equality for so g An “upper house” such as the British House
long. of Lords or the Canadian Senate.

Participation Through Election
The government has to satisfy the general needs
of the people. These needs affect or concern for
most of the people. They relate to the daily
requirements of the people. All these things are
essential to lead a dignified life. People elect their
government for a certain period of time. This is
known as the term of the government. People
judge the effectiveness of the government
through its ability to fulfil these needs of the
Nelson Mandela people. So, the government has to be sensitive to
them as the people elect it to power. It knows
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY
that if it does not satisfy the people, they will not
A representative democracy is a system where
vote for it in the next election. A democratic
citizens of a country vote for government repre-
government provides people with many powers,
sentatives to handle legislation and ruling the
apart from voting in elections.
country on their behalf. It is the opposite of direct
Even though, so many outlets to express opinion
democracy, where the public gets to vote on laws
are available today, yet, all are not within the
to be passed and other issues; and autocracy,
reach of the people. Newspapers, television and
where a dictator has absolute power and the
computers are able to voice the opinion of only
people have no say in how a country is gov-
some sections of the society. Thus, the sections of
erned.
society which suffer inequality, due to centuries
HOW DOES A REPRESENTATIVE
of exploitation, need to collect together, to
DEMOCRACY WORK?
organise opinion. In this way, they can get their
The U.S., Britain and India are all examples of
representative democracies and many other
countries worldwide follow this model. Most
representative democracies have multi-party
elections. The power, representatives have, in a
liberal representative democracy, needs to be
balanced, which is why most of them have some
form of measure in place :
g A constitution, which specifies how much
power representatives may claim.
g An independent judiciary, such as a
In a Democracy Everyone has the Right to Vote

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