How is a direct democracy different from a representative democracy?

In a direct democracy, every single member of the group has an equal say in every single decision. This is not workable on a day to day basis for large groups. In a representative democracy, people elect representatives, who vote on the issues.

Representative democracy is the basis of constitutional democracy. Representatives are chosen by the people to act in their best interest, not necessarily to vote the way the people want them to in every circumstance. Direct democracy is very difficult to maintain when a population becomes too large.

Some societies operate with a combination of both types of democracy. For example, in some countries, such as France, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland, some issues, for example, changes to the constitution, can be decided by a popular vote on that specific issue. In some of the small Swiss cantons (states) such as Glarus, all citizens are entitled to attend an annual meeting which votes retrospectively on the laws passed during the preceding year by their representatives. and also credit to the person who last posted this