Opbygningen af det repræsentative demokrati er foregået støt, lige siden udbredelsen af stemmeretten i midten af det 19. århundrede virkeliggjorde de liberale revolutioners løfter om at give folket en stemme, så de kunne kontrollere deres egen skæbne.
The edifice of representative democracy has remained steady ever since, in the mid-19th century, the expansion of suffrage made real the promise of the liberal revolutions to give the people representation, so that they could control their own destinies.