What is the main way a representative democracy differs from a direct democracy?

a. citizens elect leaders who vote on the issues in a representative democracy, and citizens vote on the issues in a direct democracy.

b. a representative democracy is modern, and a direct democracy is ancient.

c. a representative democracy works better in small groups, and a direct democracy works better in large groups.

d. citizens’ desires are ignored in a representative democracy, and citizens’ desires have a better chance of being heard in a direct democracy.

Your answer would be A). Citizens elect leaders who vote on the issues in a representative democracy, and citizens vote on the issues in a direct democracy.

In a representative democracy, Citizens elect leaders who vote on the issues. In a direct democracy, citizens vote on the issues.

Definition:

Representative Democracy:

Citizens vote for representatives to vote for issues in the country. The outcome of the situation is only determined by the votes of the representatives

Direct Democracy:

Citizens are the ones that could vote on a issue or topic. People directly decide on policies from voting.

Explanation:

The reason why A). Citizens elect leaders who vote on the issues in a representative democracy, and citizens vote on the issues in a direct democracy is CORRECT is because it is the right definitions for the two democracies. The representative democracy has citizens who vote for a  representative who votes for the people, while the direct democracy is votes that are directly decided by the Citizens. These two democracies are very different, and could range depending on what country it is applied to. Direct democracy is a very hard democracy, especially when the population is very high for a certain country. Countries with high populations usually use a representative democracy.

Why the other answer choices are incorrect:

Answer choice B). A representative democracy is modern, and a direct democracy is ancient. is INCORRECT because:

Both democracies were used in the ancient times, and are still used till this day around the world. Both democracies has been used in the Ancient times, and there is no way to call one of the democracies "out dated" since people before also decided if they wanted to use a representative democracy or a direct democracy.

Answer choice C). A representative democracy works better in small groups, and a direct democracy works better in large groups is INCORRECT because:

It is actually the opposite way around. A representative democracy works better with large populations, while a direct democracy works with a smaller population. If it was the opposite way around , the systems wouldn't function the way they were suppose to be. A direct democracy in a high populated country would be a mess since they would have to take every citizens votes. And having representatives in a small populated country wouldn't make any sense either

Answer choice D). Citizens’ desires are ignored in a representative democracy, and citizens’ desires have a better chance of being heard in a direct democracy is INCORRECT because:

Both democracies listen to what the citizens want. In the representative democracy, even though there are representatives who vote, the representatives represent what the people want, and the representatives don't vote from their own decision, they tend to listen to what the people want, and decide if what the citizens want is right or not. Citizens are NOT ignored in a representative democracy. One democracy doesn't have a higher chance of a citizens voice to be heard.

-Julie