pure democracy

noun

plural pure democracies

: direct democracy

In a pure democracy, laws are simply made by the voting majority with the rights of the minority largely unprotected. In a republic, laws are made by representatives chosen by the people who must comply with a constitution that specifically protects the rights of the minority from the will of the majority.

—Jim Freedman

… the United States is a democratic republic—not a pure democracy. Instead of directly voting for the chief executive, states hold winner-take-all elections to see which "electors" will cast votes on behalf of the entire state …

—Christine Ravold and Michael Watson

The goal of representation, [Alexander] Hamilton, wrote, was not to mirror the infinity of private interests in the way a pure democracy would do, but to meld the contesting forces into the permanent and collective interests of the nation.

—Bernard Bailyn

compare representative democracy

Examples of pure democracy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Which is what a pure democracy is. House representatives and senators are now majority-elected. —Letters To The Editor, Orange County Register, 14 Oct. 2024

Though hardly a pure democracy — a hereditary emir wields decisive authority — Kuwait has an independent and democratically elected 50-member National Assembly, whose powers are limited but real. —Editorial Board, Washington Post, 18 June 2024

The thinking was, however, that the slow and deliberative process for enacting legislation in the new nation’s representative democracy — rather than pure democracy — would help dilute the impact of such factions. —Jan Goldsmith, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Feb. 2024

Many political scientists don’t consider Turkey a pure democracy, largely because of the tremendous power exercised by the president and his ability to shape the political playing field before the vote. —Ben Hubbard, BostonGlobe.com, 15 May 2023

The founders did not design the United States to be a pure democracy. —David Leonhardt, New York Times, 17 Sep. 2022

Some suspicion of pure democracy is essential to conservatism. —Ross Douthat New York Times, Star Tribune, 16 Mar. 2021

Since pure democracy and genuine authenticity are conditions that can only be reached for, never fully achieved, this was a formula for lifelong commitment. —Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2021

The United States of America is not a pure democracy but a constitutional republic. —Star Tribune, 3 Nov. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1656, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pure democracy

• aristocracy
• meritocracy
• autocracy
• bureaucracy
• hypocrisy
• plutocracy
• theocracy