<P> Representative democracy (also indirect democracy, representative republic or psephocracy) is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people, as opposed to direct democracy . Nearly all modern Western - style democracies are types of representative democracies; for example, the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, Ireland is a unitary parliamentary republic, and the United States is a federal republic . </P> <P> It is an element of both the parliamentary and the presidential systems of government and is typically used in a lower chamber such as the House of Commons (United Kingdom) or Dáil Éireann (Republic of Ireland), and may be curtailed by constitutional constraints such as an upper chamber . It has been described by some political theorists including Robert A. Dahl, Gregory Houston and Ian Liebenberg as polyarchy . In it the power is in the hands of the elected representatives who are elected by the people in elections . </P> <P> Representatives are elected by the public, as in national elections for the national legislature . Elected representatives may hold the power to select other representatives, presidents, or other officers of the government or of the legislature, as the Prime Minister in the latter case . (indirect representation). </P> <P> The power of representatives is usually curtailed by a constitution (as in a constitutional democracy or a constitutional monarchy) or other measures to balance representative power: </P>

1. why did the founding fathers choose a republic for the u.s. instead of direct democracy