The Flaws at the Root of Representative Democracy: A Critical Analysis

Abstract: In most nations across the world, representative democracy is considered as the most modern and superior form of government. The core principle of this system of government is to grant the people full power to elect qualified representatives to govern through proper process. However the people’s role in the current system of selecting candidates and electing them as people’s representatives has largely become a formality. This raises fundamental questions regarding the very foundation of representative democracy.In every step, from selecting candidates to electing representatives, political parties and their selected few leaders make all the decisions. The people’s role is merely to validate those decisions through elections. The fundamental principle of democracy-its very root is that the people have the final say in selecting and electing the right candidates as their representatives to the government. If there are flaws at this root, true democracy can never be established. This paper aims to critically analyse the flaws in selection and election process of the people’s representatives by using proper descriptive and analytical research methods. This paper attempts to establish that, for the democratic system to be fully effective and successful, the active participation of the people in selection and election of the peoples’ representatives and governmental decision-making processes must be ensured. Otherwise, true democracy will devolve into a mere illusion.