<P> Theorists such as Edmund Burke believe that part of the duty of a representative was not simply to communicate the wishes of the electorate but also to use their own judgement in the exercise of their powers, even if their views are not reflective of those of a majority of voters: </P> <P>... it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents . Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention . It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own . But his unbiassed opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living . These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution . They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable . Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion . </P> <P> The Roman Republic was the first government in the western world to have a representative government, despite taking the form of a direct government in the Roman assemblies . The Roman model of governance inspired many political thinkers over the centuries, and today's modern representative democracies imitate more the Roman than the Greek models because it was a state in which supreme power was held by the people and their elected representatives, and which had an elected or nominated leader . Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives as opposed to a direct democracy, a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly . A European medieval tradition of selecting representatives from the various estates (classes, but not as we know them today) to advise / control monarchs led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems . </P> <P> In Britain, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one of the fathers of representative government for holding two famous parliaments . The first, in 1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the second, in 1265, included ordinary citizens from the towns . Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious Revolution and passage of the Bill of Rights 1689 . </P>

Where did the idea of representative democracy come from