SAMPLE American Government
● By the end of the 1820s, attitudes andstatelawshadshiftedinfavorofuniversalwhitemale suffrage. FormuchofUnitedStateshistory,therighttovotewasrestrictedordeniedforthepoor,peopleofcolor, andwomen.The14thAmendmenttotheU.S.Constitutiongrantsfullcitizenshiprights,includingvoting rights, to all men born or naturalized in the United States. Representative democracy
Three basic institutions fulfill representative democracy
Representative democracy is based on many complex principles
● Electorate ● The representative body ● The center of political decision-making
The most important principles are:
● Equality of all citizens before the law ● Free and fair elections ● Protection and respect for human life ● The legitimacy of state power ● Fulfillment of popular sovereignty ● Political pluralism ● Majority rule and minority rights ● Separation and restriction of power ● The legality of state power
Direct democracy and recall elections Directdemocracycanbestbeseeninarecallelection.A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition,orrepresentativerecall)isaprocedurebywhich, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Different forms of direct democracy
Two leading forms of direct democracy
● Participatory democracy ● Deliberative democracy
Semi-direct democracies : Representatives administer day-to-day governance, but the citizens remain the sovereign allowing for four forms of popular action:
The popular referendum process allows voters to approve or repeal an act of the legislature. The citizen initiative process enables citizens to bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes and, in some states, constitutional amendments on the ballot. Twenty-four states have citizen initiative processes.
Referendum
Initiatives
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