Let us see what we mean by democracy. The word “democracy” comes from the Greek language and means “rule of the people.” As we use the word today, we usually mean a government where the people help to direct the work of the government.

Political democracy has appeared in two general forms. A government in which all the people meet together to decide the policy and to elect the officials to carry it out is known as direct democracy. When the people elect representatives to carry out their wishes, the government is known as a representative democracy. Because direct democracy is not possible on a large scale with many people involved, almost all forms of democracy practiced today are the representative kind.