Quote:
Originally posted by slapass
Indirect democracy is how it was defined when I was younger which seems to fit the defintion of a Republic. I never could understand that destinction.
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A republic (from the Latin "res publica", or "thing of the people") is a state not governed by a monarch but by a collective of people. Often such a collective will be elected democratically, but that isn't necessarily the case. An oligarchic republic, for instance, is also possible.
A representative - or indirect - democracy is a form of democracy in which voters elect people to govern the country. Many representative democracies are republics, but it isn't necessary. There are also monarchies which are representative democracies.
They are two completely different things, which happen to go together often.