France, Russia and South Africa are examples of these "semi-presidential" democracies. An additional 23 countries have both a president and a prime minister, with the president acting as the chief executive. There are nearly 80 democracies in the world that follow the exact same presidential model as the United States, including Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. As the head of the executive branch, the president also exercises certain powers, like the ability to veto bills passed by Congress, to appoint members to the Supreme Court, and to serve as commander in chief of the military. This American style of democracy is called the "presidential model," since the president is the chief executive and is elected separately from members of Congress. Until then, judicial power was held by Parliament.) And instead of a House of Lords and House of Commons, America has a Senate and House of Representatives. Instead of a monarch as the chief executive, the U.S. House of Commons/PA Images via Getty Images And even the old-school Athenian idea of the sortition survives in the modern American system of jury duty, in which citizens are called to serve at random.
And the president was - and still is - elected by the electoral college, not by a popular vote.Įlements of direct democracy persist, though, in state ballot referendums and initiatives, which are passed by a majority popular vote. Senators were not elected, but appointed by state legislatures until 1913 with the passing of the 17th Amendment.
On the federal level, though, the Constitution originally only allowed direct election of the House of Representatives. Adams believed there needed to be "adults in the room," says Dickson, who were better educated and better qualified than the "great unwashed." To the framers of the Constitution, "democracy" and "republic" soon became synonymous with "representative democracy," in which the people exercised political power through elected representatives. John Adams voiced some of the strongest opposition to letting ordinary people make important political decisions.
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