Parliamentary and presidential democracy

Direct and representative democracy

In a direct democracy, all citizens take part in every rule and decision themselves. Some forms of it are used in Switzerland, but it is very hard to run in a large country, just as a committee of the whole school would struggle to decide anything. In a representative democracy, people elect representatives through universal adult franchise; they do not govern directly, but the government is always accountable to them. Elections come at fixed intervals so that people can change their choices: every five years in India and every four years in the USA. Most democracies today are representative.

Parliamentary democracy

India is a parliamentary democracy. Voters choose the legislature; the executive is not elected directly, because chosen members of the legislature become ministers. The prime minister and council of ministers are members of Parliament and answer to it, continuing in office for as long as the Lok Sabha supports them. Australia also has a prime minister and council of ministers. Within India, states such as Rajasthan and Kerala have their own governments, but these work within the larger Union Government.

Presidential democracy

In a presidential democracy, the executive stands apart from the legislature: voters elect the president directly, and the president can stay in office without the legislature’s backing. The USA and South Korea are examples. In both kinds, the judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Comparing democracies

The executive is the organ that implements laws; the legislature makes them and is called Parliament in India and Congress in the USA. Most legislatures have two Houses. The Lower House is usually directly elected and more powerful, while the Upper House is elected or nominated: in India the Lok Sabha is stronger than the Rajya Sabha, but in the USA and Australia the two Houses have equal power, and South Korea has a single House, the National Assembly. Separation of powers means each of the three organs does its own job without stepping into the others’ work. Despite such differences, equality, freedom and universal adult franchise are common to all democracies.

Democracies keep changing

Democracies did not start out with every principle we know today, and they still differ in how they work. When some countries became democracies, not every adult could vote: effective universal suffrage came to the UK only in 1928 and to the USA by 1965, while women in Switzerland voted only from 1971. India gave the vote to every adult from the first day of the republic in 1950. The way a country elects its leaders, the number and powers of its Houses and the links between its organs all grow out of its own history, so no two democracies are exactly alike, even though all of them rest on the people’s choice.

Why it matters

Knowing how our parliamentary system works helps us understand why the Lok Sabha matters, how ministers are chosen and how our votes shape the government. Other forms of government are in types of government, and the case for democracy in why democracy matters. Answers to every question are in the NCERT solutions for Chapter 9; see also the full Chapter 9 notes.