<P> The Roman Republic was the first government in the western world to have a representative government , despite taking the form of a direct government in the Roman assemblies . The Roman model of governance inspired many political thinkers over the centuries , and today 's modern representative democracies imitate more the Roman than the Greek models because it was a state in which supreme power was held by the people and their elected representatives , and which had an elected or nominated leader . Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives as opposed to a direct democracy , a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly . A European medieval tradition of selecting representatives from the various estates ( classes , but not as we know them today ) to advise / control monarchs led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems . </P>
<P> The Roman Republic was the first government in the western world to have a representative government , despite taking the form of a direct government in the Roman assemblies . The Roman model of governance inspired many political thinkers over the centuries , and today 's modern representative democracies imitate more the Roman than the Greek models because it was a state in which supreme power was held by the people and their elected representatives , and which had an elected or nominated leader . Representative democracy is a form of democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives as opposed to a direct democracy , a form of democracy in which people vote on policy initiatives directly . A European medieval tradition of selecting representatives from the various estates ( classes , but not as we know them today ) to advise / control monarchs led to relatively wide familiarity with representative systems inspired by Roman systems . </P>
which political practice was created in the roman republic that we use in america today
which political practice was created in the roman republic that we use in america today
representative government
representative government