A painting of the House of representatives. The United States of America has a representative democracy.
A representative democracy is a system of government whereby eligible members of the public are empowered to elect representatives amongst themselves to enact laws and oversee and protect their interests in government. It is the opposite of direct democracy. Most political scholars see a representative democracy as the most efficient system of democracy, particularly in countries with large populations.
They base their argument on the numerous advantages of a representative democracy. The majority of countries in the world practice this system of government as parliamentary republics, federal republics or constitutional monarchies. Some examples of countries which practice representative democracy are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, India, Japan, the Philippines, Canada, France, Turkey, Argentina, Tanzania, Mexico, Senegal and China among many others.